Sanctity is the most effective proof of the Church's credibility, said the director of the Vatican press office when commenting on the new instruction "Sanctorum Mater" regarding diocesan inquiries in the process for beatification.Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi made these remarks on the most recent episode of the weekly Vatican Television program "Octava Dies."
The instruction on the process of canonization was presented Monday by the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
"Sanctity is the essential for the Church," began the Vatican spokesman. "It is the fullness of the Christian life lived in relationship with God, everything else aims at this, it is the true glory of God. And it is the most effective proof of the Church's credibility."
"The long process for the public recognition of a person's sanctity cannot even begin if the Christian community itself does not believe in this sanctity," the spokesman said, emphasizing that this is one of the most significant points of the new instruction.
Father Lombardi said that the text affirms "the serious and severe confirmation of martyrdom or the reputation for sanctity among a consistent number of faithful is an absolute necessity for the initiation of the process."
"This means," he explained, "that one cannot be proclaimed blessed or a saint because it is 'recommended' or pleasing to an influential person, but only if believers are convinced that they find themselves before an exceptional example of witness to the faith, someone to whom they would spontaneously turn as an intercessor, as a help for getting to God."
The Church, continued the spokesman, believes that the Spirit of the Lord "is present and speaks in the people of God, he gives them a special sensibility, capable of recognizing the presence of genuine sanctity, of its appeal and its importance in Christian life."
It is so important, observed Father Lombardi, that "the universal Church have a dicastery in Rome and precise laws for dialoguing with this 'sense of the presence of sanctity' of the faithful, and determine whether God wants to confirm the presence of this sanctity with certain signs -- these are miracles -- so that complete certainty of the possible public proclamation of the sanctity of a member of the Church can be reached."
The blessed or canonized saint, the priest added, "is only the tip of the iceberg of the marvelous reality of Christian life lived in the consistency of charity."
"As Benedict XVI loves to say," he said, "God does not come to meet us alone; he comes with company, together with Mary and the saints. We pray that the Church may always truly be the 'Mother of Saints.'"
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