Beatification of JPII
The beatification of Pope John Paul II at the Vatican on May 1 will unite the world’s Catholics in joy, for everybody will have an appreciation of at least some elements of the new blessed’s life of holy service.
Pope John Paul lived his pontificate more publicly than any of his predecessors. In this, he was aided by the rapid advances in media and travel. But more than that, he was an open pontiff, a man whom the public could know.
Every Catholic will have favourite memories of John Paul, be they particular moments or general dispositions.
South Africans, who suffer so much from crime, may be inspired and acutely challenged by John Paul’s capacity of forgiveness, which he demonstrated so powerfully when he visited his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, in jail in 1983.
Those working for peace continue to draw inspiration from the pope’s meeting with the leaders of other faiths in Assisi in 1986 (and again in 2002).
Of the many iconic moments in John Paul’s pontificate, the image of the pope alone in prayer before the Western Wall in Jerusalem may be the most profound on many levels: a moment of repentance and reconciliation that showed the power of humility, and a pope’s prayerful return to the temple which for the early Christians, and indeed for Christ, was the tangible centre of faith.
Catholics will remember the pope interacting with the youth, canonising and beatifying legions of holy people, bearing his physical suffering so publicly with heroic courage, kneeling at Fatima in thanksgiving to Our Lady, to whom he had such a pure devotion, and so on.
And Catholics will remember how tens of thousands, so many of them young people, came to St Peter’s Square to hold a vigil for the dying pope in 2005.
After John Paul died, the call of the people echoed around the world: Santo Subito—make him a saint now.
Before the formal rules governing the process by which an individual becomes a saint were gradually instituted in the middle ages, saints were usually recognised by popular acclaim. As with Mother Teresa of Kolkata, there never was any doubt that John Paul would one day join the College of Saints, which he himself expanded so prodigiously. Popular opinion instantly recognised both as saints.
As John Paul did for Mother Teresa, so did Pope Benedict fast-track the cause of his predecessor, speeding up what was inevitable.
It is on the point of rules being bent that some Catholics object to the timing of Pope John Paul’s beatification, asking why similar accommodation has not been made for other individuals who are similarly publicly acclaimed as saints.
There is no impertinence in asking why, for example, Archbishop Óscar Romero—murdered in 1980 while celebrating Mass because he stood up for justice—has not yet been beatified, especially since as a martyr his cause requires no miracles.
Questions have also been raised about Pope John Paul’s inaction concerning the publicised allegations of sexual abuses by his friend Fr Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ. We must presume that the Congregation for Sainthood Causes was fully satisfied that the late pontiff was not party to a cover-up, though it would do well to follow the advice offered by John Paul’s biographer George Weigel to issue a public report to “help clear the air”.
Other critics have expressed misgivings about Pope John Paul’s beatification because they have objections to certain elements of his pontificate. Certainly it is right that the 26-year pontificate of John Paul II, like any pontificate, be subjected to rigorous scholarly examination. However, the late pope’s beatification is not a time for that.
Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the sainthood congregation, has made it clear that John Paul will be beatified on the basis of his personal virtues of faith, hope and love—and the pope’s holiness is a matter of indisputable record. It is the personal holiness of the man born on May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland, as Karol Wojtyla that we shall focus on this Sunday, leaving his legacy for another day.
And so Catholics around the world will rejoice as the man who created 1340 beati becomes one himself.
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