Almost every day we hear about terrorist attacks, escalating violence, and wars throughout the world.
We wonder whether peace is even possible. And if it is, how do we achieve it?
We don’t build peace by weapons, but by prayer and dialogue, Pope Francis said in a message to a religious peace meeting which opened on September 15.
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On April 27, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) and Karol Jozef Wojtyla (Pope John Paul II) were recognized as saints of the Catholic Church, and may God be praised for it!
No one with the slightest amount of historical sensibility would doubt that these men were figures of enormous significance and truly global impact.
But being a world historical personage is not the same as being a saint; otherwise neither Thérèse of Lisieux, nor John Vianney, nor Benedict Joseph Labré would be saints.
So what is it that made these two men worthy particularly of canonization? Happily, the Church provides rather clear and objective criteria for answering this question. A saint is someone who lived a life of “heroic virtue” on earth and who is now living the fullness of God’s life in heaven.
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Pope Francis’ bold decisions to canonize Blessed John XXIII without the normal post-beatification miracle and to link good Pope John’s canonization ceremony to that of Blessed John Paul II just may help re-orient Catholic thinking about modern Catholic history.
For what Francis is suggesting, I think, is that John XXIII and John Paul II are the twin bookends of the Second Vatican Council — and thus should be canonized together.
On January 25, 1959, less than three months after his election, John XXIII surprised the Catholic world by announcing that he would summon the 21st ecumenical council in history.
Sunday, April 6, was a day of celebration. The Latin American Mission Program (LAMP) celebrated 50 years of work and bringing people closer to God with a Mass and dinner at the Bishop O’Connor Center in Madison.
Pope Benedict has declared a Year of Faith from October 11, 2012, to November 24, 2013, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
To the editor:
Over the past year the Church has discussed starting the process for sainthood for Popes Pius XII and John Paul II.
To the editor:
I regret that the Catholic Herald would lend its space to voices of calumny. Both Kenneth J. Wolfe and Jacek M. Cianciara made unsubstantiated statements about Cardinal Annibale Bugnini, a priest who served the Church at the request of Pope Pius XII, Pope John XXIII, and Pope Paul VI. The idea that he could make changes in the liturgy without those three popes understanding what he was doing is ridiculous and an insult to the popes themselves.
To name Cardinal Bugnini as the author of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy is strange indeed. It would be well to remember that that document was approved by public vote of the Council Fathers on Wednesday, December 4, 1963, by 2,147 Council Fathers voting “yes,” and four Council Fathers voting “no.” After the vote Pope Paul VI confirmed the vote in the following words:
