Scott1
Well-Known Member
The process to canonise Pope John Paul II opened on Tuesday with Cardinal Camillo Ruini suggesting the late Pope could be declared a martyr of the faith, which would further accelerate the already record pace that has marked his beatification cause.
The cardinal, who has been papal vicar in the Diocese of Rome for 14 years, presided at a solemn Vespers on Tuesday in the diocesan cathedral of Christ the Saviour and St John Lateran to launch formally the process of beatification for the Servant of God, Karol Wojtyla. He expressed his hope that the process would be over quickly and that the man who served as Bishop of Rome for nearly 27 years would be raised to the glory of the altars. Benedict XVI had announced on 13 May that he would allow his predecessors beatification cause to be opened just six weeks after his death, bypassing the five-year canonical norm.
Cardinal Ruini was joined by Mgr Slawomir Oder postulator of John Paul IIs cause for beatification and several other officials to sign an affidavit promising secrecy, objectivity, and honesty in scrutinising the life and works of the late Polish pontiff for evidence of heroic virtues. The process will also include interviews with key witnesses and will investigate any possible miracles attributed to his intercession. One miracle must be verified for him to be beatified and a second for him to be made a saint.
The papal vicar read a glowing 11-page biography of Karol Wojtyla, which compared him to a martyr: John Paul II actually shed his own blood in St Peters Square on 13 May 1981, and again, during the long years of his illness, he offered not his blood, but his entire life. The allusion was not insignificant. Recently a Polish priest who died of cancer after being released from a 36-month prison sentence was beatified as a martyr. It was deemed that his Communist prison guards caused him spiritual and physical suffering which eventually led to his death. Cardinal Ruini said the shedding of blood was equally decisive in uniting John Paul to Christ and the humanity he redeemed.
Romes cathedral was filled to capacity and thousands of others stood outside in the square watching the ceremony on large video screens. Several times they chanted the familiar mantra, Giovanni Paolo as well as Santo Subito! (A saint immediately!). A visibly large number of Poles many in traditional costumes were on hand, including Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was in Rome to receive the pallium the next day. Several high-ranking political and Vatican officials also participated in what was probably the most elaborate ceremony ever for the pro forma signing of decrees to open a beatification cause.
Cardinal Ruini has striven to make sure John Paul II is declared a saint, including setting up an official website (www.johnpaulIIbeatification.org) for the cause. The site had received at least 22,000 hits and 1,000 emails by the time The Tablet went to press, after it opened on 19 June. Rome diocesan officials said some 100 emails were arriving each day testifying to the late Popes virtues. However, people can submit testimony in opposition to the beatification, as well. The British author John Cornwell, for example, has sent the Congregation for the Cause of Saints his recent book The Pope in Winter the dark face of John Paul IIs papacy. In the text Cornwell attempts to bolster his claim that the late Pope left the Catholic Church worse than he found it.
Robert Mickens, Rome
www.thetablet.co.uk
The cardinal, who has been papal vicar in the Diocese of Rome for 14 years, presided at a solemn Vespers on Tuesday in the diocesan cathedral of Christ the Saviour and St John Lateran to launch formally the process of beatification for the Servant of God, Karol Wojtyla. He expressed his hope that the process would be over quickly and that the man who served as Bishop of Rome for nearly 27 years would be raised to the glory of the altars. Benedict XVI had announced on 13 May that he would allow his predecessors beatification cause to be opened just six weeks after his death, bypassing the five-year canonical norm.
Cardinal Ruini was joined by Mgr Slawomir Oder postulator of John Paul IIs cause for beatification and several other officials to sign an affidavit promising secrecy, objectivity, and honesty in scrutinising the life and works of the late Polish pontiff for evidence of heroic virtues. The process will also include interviews with key witnesses and will investigate any possible miracles attributed to his intercession. One miracle must be verified for him to be beatified and a second for him to be made a saint.
The papal vicar read a glowing 11-page biography of Karol Wojtyla, which compared him to a martyr: John Paul II actually shed his own blood in St Peters Square on 13 May 1981, and again, during the long years of his illness, he offered not his blood, but his entire life. The allusion was not insignificant. Recently a Polish priest who died of cancer after being released from a 36-month prison sentence was beatified as a martyr. It was deemed that his Communist prison guards caused him spiritual and physical suffering which eventually led to his death. Cardinal Ruini said the shedding of blood was equally decisive in uniting John Paul to Christ and the humanity he redeemed.
Romes cathedral was filled to capacity and thousands of others stood outside in the square watching the ceremony on large video screens. Several times they chanted the familiar mantra, Giovanni Paolo as well as Santo Subito! (A saint immediately!). A visibly large number of Poles many in traditional costumes were on hand, including Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was in Rome to receive the pallium the next day. Several high-ranking political and Vatican officials also participated in what was probably the most elaborate ceremony ever for the pro forma signing of decrees to open a beatification cause.
Cardinal Ruini has striven to make sure John Paul II is declared a saint, including setting up an official website (www.johnpaulIIbeatification.org) for the cause. The site had received at least 22,000 hits and 1,000 emails by the time The Tablet went to press, after it opened on 19 June. Rome diocesan officials said some 100 emails were arriving each day testifying to the late Popes virtues. However, people can submit testimony in opposition to the beatification, as well. The British author John Cornwell, for example, has sent the Congregation for the Cause of Saints his recent book The Pope in Winter the dark face of John Paul IIs papacy. In the text Cornwell attempts to bolster his claim that the late Pope left the Catholic Church worse than he found it.
Robert Mickens, Rome
www.thetablet.co.uk