Cardinal: dedication to God links John XXIII, John Paul II

From Catholic News Agency-

The papacies of John XXIII and John Paul II are connected in their dedication to God and to lives of priestly service, a cardinal who worked with both of the pontiffs stressed.

“The two Popes are linked above all by the fact that they were Popes, and Saint Popes, and this is connected with the deepness of their ministry, of a life totally dedicated to their priestly service,” said Cardinal Paul Poupard, president emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

Cardinal Poupard worked at the Secretariat of State beginning in 1959, the second year of John XXIII’s papacy.

In 1980, John Paul II appointed him head of the Secretariat for Non-Believers, and he was president of the Pontifical Council for Culture from 1988 to 2007.

In an April 15 interview with CNA, the cardinal stressed the deep spirituality of both Popes.

More here-

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/cardinal-dedication-to-god-links-john-xxiii-john-paul-ii/

John Paul II Months From Sainthood

From The Trumpet-

The path was cleared for former pope John Paul II to be declared a saint when the Vatican’s board of theologians of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints announced on Tuesday that they had attributed a second miracle to him. Church officials haven’t disclosed the nature of the miracle, but Vatican insiders say the late pope worked it after his death, and that it will “amaze the world” when the account is made public sometime in the next few weeks.

The sainthood process for a pope normally takes decades or even centuries, but John Paul II’s successor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, fast-tracked it for the late pontiff, opening investigations into many miracles attributed to him. During his 27-year papacy, the Polish pope had become one of the most popular pontiffs in history. Benedict saw that Protestant churches had been swept into an unprecedented fervor of papal adulation at the time of John Paul II’s death, and he wanted to capitalize on the euphoria.

The healing of a French nun from Parkinson’s disease was declared as John Paul II’s first miracle. It led to his beatification on May 1, 2011, by Benedict XVI. The church’s rules say a pope must be beatified before he can be made a saint. Insider sources said this week that John Paul II’s second miracle took place on the very day of that beatification—several years after his death. Reports say the miracle involved a Costa Rican woman’s “extraordinary healing” from severe brain injury after she and members of her family started praying to the dead pope.

More here-

http://www.thetrumpet.com/article/10739.18.0.0/world/john-paul-ii-months-from-sainthood

Blessed John Paul II saved the Catholic Church from going the way of the Anglican Communion

From The London Telegraph-

I’ve been asking myself what future secular historians and sociologists of religion will make of Blessed John Paul II’s long stewardship of the Catholic Church. Let us set aside for the moment his magnificent assault on the foundations of Communism; also, the arguments over the sex abuse crisis.

Volumes have already been written on these subjects. Moreover, secular scholars are unlikely to dwell on the heroic sanctity of the man, which led Pope Benedict XVI to beatify him in a ceremony attended by 1.5 million people. But what they may well say – irrespective of their point of view – is that John Paul II preserved the unity of the Catholic Church at a moment when it seemed likely to fracture.

I was a schoolboy during the last years of Paul VI; what I remember from the time was a sense that the boundaries of Catholicism were being stretched until they seemed likely to snap. The Catholic Church in the 1970s had something of the flavour of the Anglican Communion today. The question of women priests did not tip the Church into schism, but it was a distinct possibility. The Dutch Church had effectively declared UDI from the Vatican; beneath the near-impenetrable jargon of American and European theologians lay fundamental assaults on Catholic belief in the Real Presence, the sacramental priesthood and many other doctrines.

More here-

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100086109/blessed-john-paul-ii-saved-the-catholic-church-from-going-the-way-of-the-anglican-communion/

Pope John Paul II's beatification thrills some but concerns others

From The Post-Gazette-

When Pope John Paul II died in 2005, Marie Milburn longed to go to his funeral but couldn't. This morning Ms. Milburn, the director of family life at Our Lady of Grace parish in Scott, was scheduled to be among millions in Rome to witness his beatification.

"It's a gesture to express my gratitude to him," said Ms. Milburn, 33. She began reading about him when she was 15 and responded to his challenge to stand up for the gospel and for the marginalized, especially fetuses vulnerable to abortion.

"He was so full of courage, full of hope and joy in Christ, and that touched my life so deeply," she said. "I think there will be some new inspiration that will come from this, for me and for the whole church."

Beatification means that Blessed Pope John Paul II has been found to have shown heroic virtue and that a miracle has been attributed to his prayers from heaven. A further miracle is required for sainthood. And there are some who believe that sainthood should wait.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11121/1143328-82.stm#ixzz1L62aza93

Popes Move Closer to Sainthood

From the New York Times-

Pope Benedict XVI moved two of his predecessors a step closer to sainthood on Saturday, confirming the “heroic virtues” of John Paul II and, in a surprise move, of Pius XII, the pope during World War II.

After John Paul’s death in April 2005, Benedict bypassed a traditional waiting period to put the much beloved pope on a fast-track to sainthood. At John Paul’s funeral, crowds at Saint Peter’s Square chanted “santo subito,” or “sainthood now.”

Pius XII, however, has been a point of contention between the Vatican and some Jewish groups, who say he did not do enough to stop the Holocaust. They have called on the Vatican to open the sealed archives from Pius’s papacy, from 1939 to 1958, for examination by scholars.

On Saturday, the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants called the decision on Pius “profoundly insensitive and thoughtless” and said it would cause “an inevitable blow” to interfaith relations.

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/world/europe/20pope.html

Vatican official says Galileo was a man of faith

From Catholic News Service. Who says the church can't admit its wrong and recant iteself? Sometimes it just takes 400 years.

Fourteen years after Pope John Paul II said the Catholic Church erred when it condemned the 17th-century astronomer Galileo Galilei, the Vatican secretary of state said the astronomer was "a man of faith" who recognized God as creator of the cosmos.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the secretary of state, spoke briefly Nov. 26 at the opening of a Rome conference titled, "Science 400 years after Galileo Galilei," designed to bring scientists, ethicists and other experts together to discuss the role of ethics in scientific research.

The cardinal said recent studies and the Vatican's own review of the Inquistion trial of Galileo "have shed light on the shortcomings of churchmen tied to the mentality of their age," but also gave people a more accurate understanding of Galileo's beliefs.

"Galileo, a man of science, also cultivated with love his faith and his deep religious convictions," Cardinal Bertone said, repeating Pope Benedict XVI's statement that "Galileo Galilei was a man of faith who saw nature as a book written by God."

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0805992.htm