Closing Down The "Saint Factory?"

At least that is how some in the media - old and new - are spinning the following Vatican story:

Vatican to tighten standards for beatification

Vatican, Feb. 13, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Vatican will soon release new norms for beatification and canonization, calling upon diocesan bishops to show “greater sobriety and rigor” in opening causes.

The new norms are expected to cut down on the number of causes presented to the Vatican for consideration. Diocesan bishops– who preside over the initial investigations into the lives of candidates who died in their dioceses– will be asked to set high standards for evidence demonstrating that the candidate’s life was marked by outstanding virtue. A diocesan inquiry concludes with a dossier that is forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, which then conducts its own investigation of the case.

The pontificate of Benedict XVI has seen a decrease in the number of beatifications and canonizations approved by the Vatican, after the record-setting pontificate of John Paul II. Shortly after his election, Pope Benedict indicated that he would preside only at canonization ceremonies, in order to emphasize the distinction between beatification and canonization.

A 20-page document, scheduled for release by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, entitled Sanctorum Mater, will be introduced to the media at a press conference on February 18, with Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, the prefect of the Congregation, chairing the session. The Spanish cardinal will be joined at the press conference by Archbishop Michele Di Ruberto and Msgr. Marcello Bartolucci, the secretary and under-secretary, respectively.

A rather ridiculous complaint I hear over and over in some circles - usually but not always of a more traditional variety - is that JP2’s pontificate was a “saint making factory” with a record number of beatifications and canonizations during his reign.

What this odd, odd charge seems to look past, on the face of it, is just how very many saints and martyrs there were in the last 150 years. The 20th century alone saw unprecedented growth and unprecedented persecution. I am left without any good reason to believe there weren’t a great many saints woven into the fabric of those years.

When it comes to the baseless charge critics submit - that the Holy Father was a “saint making factory” trying to please every nation and group with their own saint - I am simply nonplussed. Why is it so difficult to believe that in the period immediately before and during the largest expansion of the world Catholic population and the growth of the Church where it has largely come to be found in every nation - even as remnants or missions… Why is it difficult to believe there weren’t saints a-plenty involved in that growth even through persecution?

Really, at the heart of the charge JP2’s pontificate was a “saint making factory” is a strong hint of a distrust in the church’s process for canonization, a lack of trust in the Holy Spirit, and a rather secular worldview that it is a Pope that makes someone a saint. God’s grace makes a soul a saint; popes merely announce a reality on this matter. Everyone he canonized or beatified deserved it. Dare I say there are many more still that will be, and dare I hope there are many living today?

So take a good look at the Roman directives being laid out in the news story. The Vatican is not implying there will be fewer canonization or beatifications - in fact B16 has already beatified or canonized some 546! What in fact is being reformed is the opening of causes… Some of which have been very questionable (and rightly gone nowhere) and have only served to take up time, space and effort at the congregation charged with the oversight of the process. When I read these articles, I essentially see Rome asking for the local ordinaries to be vigilant in exploring the merits of causes they consider, lest the system grow bogged down in causes that will go no where any time soon, if ever.Pray for more saints… in the process you may become one yourself!