Vatican accused of unholy rush
Archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI were canonized Sunday, part of a recent surge in saint-making.
VATICAN CITY — Four years ago, Pope John Paul II was named a saint, a step that seemingly secured the legacy for one of the towering figures of the 20th century.
Instead, his papacy has come under an increasingly sharp and unsaintly critique, with some faithful saying his muted response during the early years of the sexual abuse crisis continues to haunt the Roman Catholic Church.
Debate about the actions of a papal saint would have been highly improbable during an earlier era of Catholicism, when popes were only rarely given the highest honor in the faith.
But, in recent years, the Vatican has given rise to a rapid surge in papal saintmaking, canonizing its former leaders in massive ceremonies at St. Peter’s Square — sometimes before history has rendered a final judgment on their papacies.
When Paul VI was canonized Sunday, along with martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, he became the third pope to be canonized in four years.
Paul VI’s successor, John Paul I, who held the position for 33 days until his death, is also in the pipeline, meaning the Vatican office responsible for saints is looking into his case.
Though canonization is meant to reflect a person’s virtue — not his or her place in the history books — some outsiders say the church has placed itself in an awkward position by turning sainthood into a near default for modern popes.
John Paul II was canonized in a modern record of nine years after his death in 2005.
The church is dealing with a global wave of sexual abuse crises, challenging its standing, and details continue to emerge about how the institution dealt with the issue in earlier decades.
Some of the cases that have erupted this year into public view have cast a damaging portrait of inattention to abuse during the papacy of John Paul II.
“The question becomes: Why the rush?” said Christopher Bellitto, a history professor at Kean University, who suggested a mandatory 50- or 75-year waiting period on canonization after a pope’s death. “Papacies are complicated things, and we learn more about them after the pope has died.”
The process of minting saints is an elaborate one, involving a dedicated Vatican office that vets the candidate’s credentials, as well as doctors and other experts who look for evidence of otherwise inexplicable “miracles,” often involving cured ailments and diseases. Most candidates require one miracle before beatification and another miracle for the final step of sainthood. But always, the current pope has authority to quicken the process or lower the bar for the number of miracles.
Saints are not beyond reproach. But controversy can keep popes from canonization.
One modern pope who isn’t yet a saint: Pius XII, who died in 1958 but is the subject of ongoing controversy for his policies during World War II, including whether he did enough to speak out against the rise of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust.
Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the new head of the Vatican’s saint-making office, said this week that Pius’ case “has not progressed.”
“The most important judgment is the one on the sanctity of life,” said Monsignor Guido Mazzotta, a Vatican judge who assessed the case for Paul VI, the pontiff who reigned until 1978 and is remembered, in part, for leading the church reforms known as Vatican II and for his encyclical reasserting Catholic opposition to birth control.
The saintly Catholic roster has about 10,000 members — including roughly one-third of the religion’s 266 popes.
Almost every pope during the first 500 years of the church was canonized. But then, just three of the 66 pontiffs between 1294 and 1914 received the honor, according to data compiled by Bellitto.
During the last decade, the trend of papal saintmaking drastically has reaccelerated — perhaps a recognition of how postWorld War II popes have taken on an expanded role as globe-trotting symbols for the faith.
In that sense, John Paul II, who reigned for 23 years until his death in 2005, was the ultimate example. He visited more than 120 countries, helped to galvanize a global fight against communism, and on the day of his funeral, mourners already were chanting, “Santo Subito,” or “Saint Now.”
John Paul II’s handling of abuse was controversial during his lifetime. But some experts say the repercussions of his approach are becoming more evident after his death, even changing his legacy.
Though Vatican watchers debate how informed John Paul II had been about some abusers, they say he dealt with the issue with a Cold Warrior’s fortress mentality, opting for secrecy in handling cases and tending to view individual priests as the problem.