We will start our official coverage of the canonizations of John XXIII and John Paul II on Wendesday with a series of pieces looking at the significance of these two men and what their canonization says about us, the church doing the canonizations.
NCR correspondent Joshua McElwee was in Rome for Holy Week and will be there through the canonization weekend (and for the next week as Francis' Council of Cardinals meets April 28-30 and the pope's new sex abuse commission convenes May 1-3). McElwee will provide coverage of the historic canonizations as they unfold. He told me this morning in a phone call that the Vatican has a full slate of activities all this week to keep the millions of pilgrims busy as they arrive.
Meanwhile, I thought I would remind readers of our take on the canonizations shortly after Pope Francis announced them. Our editorial was titled: With canonization approvals and encyclical, Francis' pontificate has begun.