UNITED STATES
Christian Catholicism
Jerry Slevin
With all the problems the Vatican now faces, why are more “papal saints” being declared now, and what is the rush on Pope John Paul II? With almost a hundred popes already declared “saints”, do Catholics need more papal saints to pray to? What is really going on? Is Pope Francis’ “infallible” declaration of sainthood, or canonization, for Popes John XXIII and John Paul II part of a larger undisclosed strategy? It seems so. Despite the usual cheerleading from conflicted and opportunistic papal apologists, neither pope deserves to be declared a saint, for the reasons specifically discussed below.
Francis’ “divinizing” these two popes now, thereby seeking to enhance selectively Francis’ ability to capitalize on their individual moral influence over various Catholic groups, appears aimed at consolidating Francis’ papal power base and at maximizing his influence over a divided world Catholicism.
Francis’ strategy appears directed at both so-called “conservative” Catholics, who often favor John Paul II’s more dogmatic approach in his rigid encyclicals and self-serving Catechism, and “liberal” Catholics, who often favor John XXIII’s seemingly more pastoral approach in initiating the Second Vatican Council reforms. Since the Catechism contains many positions that support a dominant papacy that depends on a rigid sexual morality, Francis’ rushed and unsurprising “elevation” of the Catechism’s papal proponent, John Paul II, is both symbolically, practically and perhaps ominously significant for many key “doctrines” that Francis is purported by some to be reconsidering, such as women priests, contraception, divorced and remarried Catholics’ readmission to sacraments, and marriage equality.
As to the seeming rush to sainthood, maximizing Francis’ power over a less theologically divided Catholicism appears to be especially important to the Vatican currently. The Vatican now faces its greatest external threat since the loss of its extensive Papal States’ territory almost a century and a half ago. The democratically driven threat for the Vatican is the increasing pressure, including potential criminal prosecutions of the hierarchy, from powerful democratic governments over the Vatican’s mismanagement, especially of its bishops’ poor child protection performance. The Vatican over a 1,500 year period has eliminated democratic pressure internally, but is now paradoxically facing democratic pressure externally.
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