A miracle confirmed and a date set. From the New York Times:
Pope Benedict XVI moved his beloved predecessor one step closer to sainthood on Friday, confirming a miracle by John Paul II and setting May 1 as the date of his beatification....
Benedict said in a decree on Friday that a French nun had been miraculously cured from Parkinson’s disease thanks to John Paul’s intercession. John Paul himself suffered from Parkinson’s. A second miracle is needed for him to become a saint.
After John Paul is beatified, he will be considered “blessed” and can be publicly venerated. Benedict is expected to celebrate the beatification Mass himself, the first Sunday after Easter.
In a statement on Friday, Benedict said that a Vatican-appointed committee of cardinals, bishops, doctors and theologians had determined that the recovery of Sister Marie Pierre Simon from Parkinson’s Disease was “miraculous” and “scientifically inexplicable.”
Even great men of the Church such as Roncalli or Pacelli were BT (before television)essentially.
We do not have a lot of tv footage of Blesseds or Saints and so we cannot get a sense of them apart from in books.
So now everybody can look ala Youtube and say ahh that is how it was !Or in this case "so that is sanctity".
Holiness is something which is interesting to a lot of people and recently there have been some items on America that spoke about it but no real questioning or resolution of what it is.
How do we identify it?
Recently a friend said that I looked like a very holy person and knowing how I truly am I could see the danger in this way of thinking. Humility is the mark of God for me. I have seen it in people all over.
In Peru ,Mexico and even in Rome.
But I have never seen it in the old Pope.His look was charismatic ,a man confident in himself and always in control. It is the identical look that Ronald Reagan sometimes had.
His gestures drew attention to himself and he always seemed happiest in a crowd of adulating fans.
The TV gives us this,we can study and perhaps be as wrong as my friend was. Recently I saw him speaking about WYD and he came across as incredibly "prepotente/arrogant".Can these things co-exist in a Saint?If they can I and most of us catholics are already halfway there.
What you wrote is devastatingly brilliant in my view.True as well.
The insight into the problem is profound.I only question the view of the former Pope as naif. In Rome "fare una bella figura" is the most important thing.Wojtyla scrupulously made a good impression and his idealism about the Priesthood meant that he could term homosexuality as "evil" and in a way distance it from those legionaire like Priests.
It is the same erotic,narcissistic vision that Maciel had. That is why the son of the soldier could forgive the military dictatorships but not the proletarian ones.
Pinochet and the Argies killed the people but respected a uniform when they saw one.It was the opposite with the Reds.
They did not respect hierarchy. If the communists had been sweet with the clergy but nasty with the People all of those with this mindset would have played the pragmatic card.
The Vatican is doing it now with Berlusconi and they did it with Bush. His heroism against the commies was like that of Churchill against the Nazis.
You must remember it is is not good against bad but Empire against Empire.Hollywood alone could make the British empire to be heroes.
What we are staring right straight in the face is the "Will to Power" that Nietzsche spoke of.Christ is merely tinsel in this Christmas tree.Compliments on your fantastic posting Norman.
Thanks for the links and good luck in your work.The task must be spiritually exhausting and I will pray for you that you feel close to Christ and that what you write may make a dent in the thinking of those in authority.
@David,
Of course every Saint has their imperfections and it is not really in perfections of any kind that we should be looking for sanctity but perhaps in the perfect love of Jesus. Who is to say that St Mary Magdalen after her conversion was truly chaste forevermore?But who would deny that she loved Jesus?The same for all of the other truly great saints. It seems to be now more of an ascetics Olympics at times than anything else. I sometimes feel that I am alone in feeling that God gave us a big message last year that will take a lot of discerning.To me the "lets get on with things" mentality would be spiritual suicide now. I came back to the Church in 2002 and believed what you wrote to be true.If the Pope had known he would have moved heaven and Earth to protect the children. I remember walking in the fields near my home and thinking that the Vatican would announce "all victims called to Rome for encounter with Pope" as a future headline. But nothing.They simply ordered the band to play louder.Now is the same in my eyes. I am convinced that the old Pope was an extraordinary man. A real charmer and had many great human qualities.But I also see that he was commited to a power game that involved massive double-standards. The same man who could refuse communion to divorced catholics would move mountains for the king of Monaco to obtain annulments and special decrees for his grandchildren. The man who would not entertain priests giving communion to non-catholics and certainly not to pro-abortion politicians felt free to give it to Tony Blair who was neither catholic at the time and fervently pro-abortion. It all saddens me but St Ignatius teaches us to find God in all things. I would like a Jesuit to trace out the path on this one.
But I know Jesus is greater than all our failings.