Pope John Paul reported closer to 'venerable'

Who in the Vatican has derailed the cause of John XXIII?

God help us! The right wing Pope Benedict and his fellow cardinals and bishops push their right wing agenda by canonizing a Bishop of Rome that has set the Church back five hundred years. I can just imagine the right wing shills for the bishops jumping up and down with glee. The entire process of "making saints" is not just silly but very much a political agenda to further the cause of reactionaries who have seized the power and are causing the old Roman imperial model of the Latin Rite Churches to implode. Adult fairy tales make for interesting theatre when it comes to making saints. The Anglicans do it like the early Catholic Church did it. They declare their saints locally based on the history of the person who tried just a little harder to be a Christian and follow Christ. Rome resorts to weaving fairy tales about miracles because it's their only method to push their agenda.

Lest us all pray for the beatification of Pope John Paul II

"Members of the saints' congregation meet regularly to study the life stories, eyewitness testimony and other documentation promoting the causes of proposed saints. The information is contained in a "positio," or position paper, prepared by the promoter of the individual's cause."

Re: "OTHER DOCUMENTATION"

This congregation cannot CREDIBLY make a pronouncement on this man without addressing the allegations made in:

http://www.amazon.com/Vows-Silence-Abuse-Power-Papacy/dp/0743244419

http://www.vowsofsilencefilm.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHyhdaTQCS4

Anything less is just another Vatican coverup, an outright lie, and a source of great scandal to the faithful. SUBITO SANTO! - my eye!

I am so happy to have read this and know that he is being considered for beatification and to follow into the Sainthood.. He was a Saint and should never be a question but by Roman Catolic Rules in the Church they are doing s great thing and I will be watching for the days to come of the announcement. May God Bless Pope Benedict XVI in his decisions he will be making and that all the Catholic Peopl and other faiths see how wonderful this is.. God Bless

As a 25 year old, hispanic, homosexual Catholic, all I can say is thank God for Pope John Paul II. From his teachings and personal example truly inspired me to be the Catholic I am today. Seeing him at two World Youth Days, and celebrating with him was a true source of hope for me in very turbulent times of my life. I literally laugh out loud when I see posts about how Joan Chittister, Louise Akers, Sandra Schneiders, Richard McBrien et all offer "hope" for today's Church. None of these people could ever even dream of offering as much hope for the Church as was personified in Pope John Paul II. SANTO SUBITO!!!

It is about time. I look forward to the day when His Holiness, Saint Pope John Paul the Great is elevated to the honors of the Altar.

Horrid to make JPII a "saint". He okayed sending out instructions to all the bishops and priests to silence the sex scandal victims, to stall the victims, to to move the priest and bishop pedophiles from parish to parish even country to country.

JPII also ignored the complaints and requests from the victims of predatory narcissistic materialistic pedophile founder of Legion of Christ, Marciel Maciel Legodo. Victims reported that the founder of Legion of Christ abused altar boys, school boys, seminarians sexually, stole money from the Legion, was a major drug addict. From 1979 onwards the pope was informed of this, ignored it and then could no longer ignore it as the victims filed the complaints again and again, finally when the victims used a canon lawyer it was finally looked at. JPII ignored the abuses of Legion of Christ founder. JPII is NO saint.

They should just make all Popes saints when they are elected and avoid this sham. This is one more Church tratition being destroyed by the right to make a political point. Once they make Pius XII aka the Nazi Pope a saint, that will about finish it.

Almost from the beginning of his pontificate, I've regarded JPII as a "venerable" old fart.

What's new here???

He was a tool of Opus Dei. He canonized Escriva, who purchased a title of nobility. That action alone should disqualify John Paul II from further consideration for canonization.

http://www.odan.org/tw_opposition_to_canonization.htm

From that:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The quotes and facts below are taken from Kenneth Woodward's article, "A Questionable Saint, Is Opus Dei's founder fit for canonization?" Newsweek, January 13, 1992; from the official Opus Dei website; from Kenneth Woodward in his book, "The Helpers of God: How the Catholic Church makes Its Saints" National Catholic Register World Notes May 10, 1992; from Kenneth Woodward's article "A Coming-Out Party in Rome, Opus Dei prepares to stand by its man," Newsweek, May 18 1992; from the Vatican website; and from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

1. Based on materials worked up by a team of Opus Dei priests, John Paul II declared Escriva "heroically virtuous" in April 1990.

2. In July 1991, a miraculous healing authenticated, in part, by Opus Dei doctors was attributed to Escriva's intercession.

3. There is no devil's advocate to systematically challenge a candidate's claim to holiness. Thus some Vatican officials said Opus Dei was able to use its influence to manipulate the church's saint-making system for the benefit of its founder.

4. Opus Dei's first prelate, Alvaro del Portillo, who was also Escriva's successor, was a consultor to several congregations and councils of the Holy See, such as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. As a member of the Commission for the Revision of the Code of Canon Law, he also helped in the drafting of the current Code that eliminated the "devil's advocate," promulgated by John Paul II in 1983.

5. An Opus Dei member, Dr. Raffaello-Cortesini, a heart surgeon, headed the medical board that reviews potential miracles for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

6. Serious charges were brought that Opus Dei prevented critics of Escriva from testifying at church tribunals called to investigate his life. Opus Dei officials insist that 11 critics were heard among 92 witnesses. Several former members were refused a hearing. Among them: Maria del Carmen Tapia, Father Vladimir Feltzman and John Roche.

7. Escriva defended Adolf Hitler. He told Father Feltzman that "Hitler had been unjustly accused of killing 6 million Jews." "In fact he had killed only 4 million."

8. Even some Opus Dei sympathizers, like retired Cardinal Silvio Oddi who served the Vatican for decades in key posts, believe the push to make Escriva a Saint has done Opus Dei "more harm than good". Although bishops are reluctant to criticize Opus Dei openly, says Oddi, many are "very displeased" by the rush to judgment and see "no need for the immediate beatification of their founder."

9. Normally to assess potential saints the Vatican appoints "consultors" who come from the candidate's homeland. Curiously, eight of Escriva's nine judges were Italian - a sign say critics that the congregation wanted to avoid Spanish theologians, many of whom are known to oppose Opus Dei. Opus Dei officials argue that because Escriva was an international figure and lived in Rome, there was no need to have Spanish judges.

10. Opus Dei has refused to let outsiders see the material on which Escriva's "heroic virtues" were judged -- an unprecedented act of secrecy, say priests familiar with the process.

11. Opus Dei officials have claimed that Escriva's cause had been unanimously approved. However Newsweek has learned that two of the judges, Msgr. Luigi De Magistris, deputy head of the Vatican's Holy Penitentiary, and Msgr. Justo Fernandez Alonso, rector of the Spanish National Church in Rome, did not approve the cause. In fact, one of the dissenters reportedly wrote that beatifying Escriva could cause the church "grave public scandal."

12. Under Pope Paul VI, Opus Dei was suspect. Vatican documents show that Paul worried that Opus Dei priests in the Vatican were leaking confidential decisions to Escriva.

13. John Paul II has increased the number of Opus Dei bishops . . . (there were only 4 before, all in Latin America) and granted Opus its own Pontifical "atheneum" in Rome despite objections from the rectors of the Church's established pontifical universities.

14. In 1982 John Paul II awarded Opus Dei a unique status as "personal prelature" which means its clerical and lay members take spiritual direction from their own prelate in Rome and not like other Catholics from their local bishop.

15. Opus Dei's real power is inside the Vatican bureaucracy . . .several ranking cardinals and at least one of the pope's personal secretaries, Father Stanislaw Dziwisz from Cracow are either [Opus Dei] "cooperators" or like the Pope himself, strong sympathizers.

16. Officials who supervise the media-conscious pope's liaisons with television are members of Opus Dei.

17. Officials of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints not only gave the cause top priority but, as the official positio on Escriva shows, they also bent rules to exclude damaging evidence about Escriva's character and commitment to the church.

18. The positio claims that the volatile Escriva lost his temper only once, yet many former members who knew him will insist he was routinely abusive of anyone suspected of being an enemy of Opus Dei, including Pope John XXIII and Paul VI. Former numerary Maria del Carmen Tapia relates in her book Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus Dei that Escriva routinely lost his temper, and that as secretary in charge of writing down his words and actions, she was not allowed to right down anything negative that she witnessed. She herself was subjected to abusive words from Escriva, who called her the most filthy names, e.g. WHORE, SOW, PIG, and then screamed during this meeting with both men and women present, that someone should "pull down her panties.... and give her a spanking," referring to a fellow numerary woman who had assisted Tapia by mailing letters for her. Regarding this statement, a supporter of ODAN wrote the following: "This is the most bizarre and perverted talk coming from anyone, man or woman, but for a man to say this to an adult woman...for a priest to use this language and make this statement to a woman; for a saint to make this statement, completely perverts not only the rules of civilized behavior, but sanctity itself. There is no excuse for this conduct, no excuse at all. This, in and of itself, belies his sanctity."

19. A Vatican source said, contrary to established procedure, no published writings critical of Escriva were included in the documents given to the judges of his cause; nor did the congregation investigate Escriva's celebrated conflicts with the Jesuits, reports of his pro-fascist leanings and Opus Dei's involvement with the Franco government.

20. 40% of the testimony came from just two men, (Alvaro) Portillo (deceased Opus Dei prelate and Escriva's successor) and his assistant Father Javier Echevarria, (current Opus Dei prelate).

21. Although 1,300 bishops and cardinals from all over the world had written to the Vatican giving positive statements on the Opus Dei founder, only 128 of them had actually met him in person.

22. According to [Woodward's] research, Opus Dei members allegedly have put hundreds of bishops under financial pressure in order to have them send positive reports about Escriva to the Vatican. Especially in the Third World, bishops were allegedly told that financial contributions from Opus Dei might be in jeopardy if they did not answer the request for positive testimony.

23. The "devil's advocate" that had been part of the canonization process before 1983 was replaced by a "relator"; thus the door was open for the rapid canonization of Escriva. (Note that the current Opus Dei prelate at the time, Portillo, was part of the committee that eliminated the devil's advocate.) In the past, it was the job of the devil's advocate to ask "why shouldn't this person be canonized?"

Is one of this pope's main qualifications for being canonized his steadfast and unfailling protection of the Church's practising pedophiles and sexual abusive clerics?

Deo Gratias. Soon the best Pope of the 20th century will be raised to the alters of Holy Mother Church:)

It was an abomination to God when the Pope went to Assisi and allowed false religions to be honored along with Our Lord Jesus Christ. Have we forgot the commandments? It just goes to show how we were warned about the great apostasy and how so many have lost the faith.

I'm disturbed by the rush to judgment on certain individuals like Mother Theresa & JPII. I believe both of them lived holy lives but canonization usually involves more than that. I also think there are real problems with both of these individuals in terms of their wisdom which are not being addressed in the canonization process. No individual should be exempt from the usual waiting period and the process needs to be tightened up. People should be aware the the office of the Devil's Advocate has been abolished in the canonization process by JPII. Why?

Personally, I would like to see Pope Paul VI beatified before JP II. Cardinal Montini was John's choice to succeed him and to carry on the work of the Council.

He was an egomaniac who goverened like the secretaries general of the communinst party he was familiar with in Poland. His too many trips exploited dioceses and local governments for the funds to provide for his security. He undermined Vatican II while ostensibly supporting it. He destroyed the Catholic hierarchy of the U.S. with toadies. He never confronted the fallacy of papal claims. He canonized Juan Diego, who, as it happens, never was born, lived, or died. A character, but no saint. He did endorse evolution at least.

I wonder how many true, faithful Catholics pay any seroius attention to the National Catholic Reporter. I look at this website every now and then for a chuckle!