Pity Joan of Arc. She had to wait 400 years before the Church would canonize her.
The proposed canonization this coming Sunday of two problematic Popes, John XXIII and John Paul II, must be viewed as a canonization not of these particular men but of the Council called Vatican 2. I cannot imagine how else one would view this given the fact that both of these pontificates were extremely troubled for so many diverse reasons and given the fact that chicanery had to be employed to fast-track the canonization process. In the case of Pope John no miracle was required suddenly; in John Paul II's case a rather ordinary medical misdiagnosis had to be claimed to be a miracle.
Humanly speaking I do not see how these canonizations could be stopped. The politics as well as the mechanisms are firmly in place for it to happen. It is like the steamroller effect. The long period of discernment, reflection, prayer and investigation required should, in the interests of the Church's credibility, have been observed. But it was not. Given the turmoil of these past five decades a prudent Church should have put this whole idea aside for a century or more. We know that there are diligent Churchmen in Rome who have been against this move for many years but for reasons either of obedience or of not wanting to bring even more scandal upon their beloved Church will now remain silent. I have pity for these men. Do they want to make a stink about a move that is going to drive an even larger wedge between those Catholics hanging on to the unchangeable teachings of Christ and those Catholics who for whatever reason have made the decision to simply accept? Yes, these Churchmen who remain silent are in anguish and do deserve our pity.
It is not difficult to find good things to say about John Paul II personally, particularly his sterling defense of the unborn. One wants to find good things to say. But always there is the nagging in Catholic hearts about the negative things, of which there were too many. We can hope he made his peace with God before death. Of John XXIII, he who was the front man so to speak of this catastrophe, I have little to say.
The confusion among the faithful that will occur if these canonizations go through will be on a scale such as the Church has never seen before. These acts cannot fail to throw even more Catholics off-balance, create more division among an already much too divided Church and God only knows what else. In past epochs the leaders of the Faith have acted imprudently and brought down upon the world the ill-effects of those decisions. The Church survived them, yes. But at what a cost.
On Sunday, April 27th, 2014 the Church will die a little more.
6 comments:
The Church is like unto Christ, she will seem dead, but she will arise. May God in his mercy forbid the canonizations.
I have not seen a "sterling defense" of the unborn out of JPII, Benedict XVI or...and certainly not out of Francis. A sterling defense would be to at least pray in front of an abortuary and to EXCOMMUNICATE any and ALL who vote a baby killer into office. Personally, I don't find anything less to be a defense at all.
It is important to keep in mind that a canonization, at its root, is only a declaration that the person in question died in the state of grace, and is now in heaven. All the stuff about heroic sanctity is nice, desirable, even, but that is not the part that is guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.
It is morally impossible that one can be honored as being among the blessed, who is actually a reprobate burning in hell.
Additionally, if a pope who received that sacraments, last rites, weekly (daily?) confession, and had innumerable masses said for his soul, as well as maybe half a billion people praying for him cannot make it to heaven, then what hope do we have?
I don't think that this is prudent, either, but I'll accept it if it happens. I also think that a lot of things in the church will be taken away from us, possibly everything that God has not explicitly guaranteed. It is going to get rough.
Don't get out of the boat.
Paul
What you say about the the sacraments administered , the Masses and prayers is true, Paul. But Sacraments can be sacriligiously received. Contracepting, Sodomy accepting, Abortion accepting, Co-habiting novus ordo catholics receive the Eucharist and are prayed for too. Think they are in a state of grace? God will not reward those who caused His little ones to go to Hell. Woe to the world because of scandals and woe to the man by whom that scandal cometh. Matthew 18
These canonizations are as false as an obama "presidency" and will serve the devil just as well if for no other reason than the great SCANDAL they will cause to novus ordo catholics and the heretics who are watching. Like the Anglicans.
Yes, we stay in the Boat but not by condoning evil with our silence and calling evil good.
Pray for the Consecration of Russia.
Hello Ameilia:
I understand what you mean, of course. And you make a very good point. Grasping at straws is, sadly, what many of us Catholics are wont to do when faced with some of these outrages, and as regards John Paul II's defense of the unborn what I perhaps should have mentioned is that singular incident when he was standing next to Bill and Hilary Clinton condemning the crime of abortion. It was fun to watch those two cretins cringe when the Pope said those words.
But, again, you are correct: words are fine, but they must be followed by firm actions, like excommunications and refusing the sacraments to public and notorious sinners.
Thank you for your comment.
I always wondered about the deeply sombre expressions on the faces of saintly popes like Pius X and Pius XII, both of whom had the gift of mystical foresight. Pius XII having also read the Third Secret. The looks were that of fathers with sorrowing hearts that were deeply disturbed by something. I wondered what they saw in the future that put such concerned and sorrowful expressions upon their holy faces. Now I know.
Pray FOR John XXIII and John Paul II. But do not call evil good.
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