Some reflections on Popes
and their personal holiness, etc
Of course, it is a human tendency to focus on John Paul II at this time because he is being beatified. But comments like those given by the prominent Catholics cited in the CNS stories above would give the impression that John Paul II is the only Pope in recent memory to have been recognized as holy in his lifetime, nor for that matter, the only Pope whose human virtues must be emulated.
It would be nice to for some to remind the world for a change that, of the Popes since the mid-19th century, Pius X has been canonized; Pius IX, Pius XI and John XIII have been beatified; and Pius XII, Paul VI and John Paul I are being 'processed' for beatification (it has been reported that a 'beatification miracle' is under study for both Pius XXII and John Paul I).
I feel bad about Leo XIII and Benedict XV who appear to have been left off from consideration, but I have no doubt both Popes could well be considered if their respective dioceses took the initiative.
And of course, the most obviously overlooked in all this is the present Pope himself, whose personal holiness is not questioned even by those among his worst critics who are well-informed, and who - I think no one would dispute it - is a living Doctor of the Church.
Most importantly, he is the one individual who sets the example of shining Christian witness daily and publicly to the entire world.
I am not arguing that Popes should automatically be considered for sainthood. Popes have not always been inspirational figures, as history tells us abundantly.
But the Church does appear to be blessed in the era of the modern papacy with Popes whose election may well have been the action of the Holy Spirit, each of whom was inspirational in his time.
Perhaps the Conclaves that elected each of the modern Popes were enlightened in their choice by the demands of the times when they made their choice, so that each historical period somehow got the right Pope. But certainly no one has characterized any of the modern Popes as rascals.
In fact, even the Popes who have been most anathematized by their detractors for misunderstood episodes - Pius IX with his denunciation of modern errors; Pius X who was such a champion of Tradition that the FSSPX is named after him; Pius XII with respect to the Holocaust; Paul VI and his perceived ambivalences over Vatican II, and Papa Wojtyla himself, whose record is considered by some to be 'clouded' by the shadow of the sex-abuse scandals and his friendship with Father Maciel - are
faulted for not being 'perfect', not for being unholy.
Some have argued that Popes should not be considered for sainthood at all because they enjoy an unfair advantage over 'lesser mortals'. That seems so illogical, because by definition, the spiritual leader of the Church - officially the Vicar of Christ on earth - should be more worthy than any other priest to be the Vicar of Christ, and their election would seem to be proof that their peers in the Church thought so, as well. In this light, every Pope should be a candidate for sainthood! And if the individual Pope is indeed a holy man, why should he be discriminated against?
The argument that Popes have an unfair advantage is equally fallacious - there are so few of them as to make a difference. Cardinal Amato says that the Congregation of Saints has about 3,000 causes pending. Of those, we are aware of six modern Popes.
The best argument, of course, is to cite the hundreds of humble folk - priests, religious and laymen - whom the Church has beatified and canonized in the past several decades, to limit ourselves to recent memory. The Church is not responsible for the miracles that lead to the beatification and canonization of candidate saints nor for the timing of these miracles, which for the most part, determine the fate and timing of each individual cause.
The whole Church celebrates, or should, whenever any one candidate for sainthood - whether he was a great Pope as Karol Wojtyla was, or a dying Roman teenager like Chiara Badano who inspired those around her with the luminous strength of her faith - hurdles the formal requirement for a 'certified' miracle,
because new blesseds and saints are not just examples of Christian witness as Christ wants each of us to be, but because the miracles associated with them - events that are inexplicably by science - are extraordinary signs of God that are visible and tangible to a world where many people deny the existence of God.