Pope Benedict XVI announced in March that four beatified Catholics will be elevated to sainthood and 13 will be beatified, the first step towards sainthood.The list could disappoint a large number of Catholics.
It includes a nun from India, but she isn't Nobel Peace laureate Mother Teresa.
And Pope John Paul II is not listed.
They are already saints in many eyes, but the Vatican takes a longer view.
Crowds at John Paul’s funeral in April 2005 loudly called for “Santo subito!” — “Sainthood now!”
Canonization is a long process, which includes gathering evidence for a life of heroic sanctity, interviewing contemporaries and examining a person’s writings for any hint of unorthodoxy.
One medically certifiable miracle is required for beatification, and one more for canonization.
John Paul loosened the rules during his papacy, but the Vatican increased the rigor in its saint-making guidelines again in March. The change could see Teresa and John Paul denied early sainthood.
The nun, Anna Muttathupadathu (Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception), will be India's first woman saint.
The other three to be canonized are: Gaetano Errico, an Italian priest and the founder of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary; Verena Butler (Sister Maria Bernarda, a nun from Switzerland and founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Mary; and Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, a layperson of the archdiocese of Guayaquil.
Pope John Paul II had declared Sister Alphonsa as blessed on 8 February 1986, along with Blessed Kuriakose Elias Chavara, also from Kottayam, Kerala.
The candidates for beatification include an American priest, Michael McGivney (1852-1890), who founded the Knights of Columbus, a fraternal benefit society in the United States.
Pope Benedict XVI has chosen not to elevate canonize and beatify Catholics at the rate chosen by his predecessor. John Paul canonized almost 500 during his long pontificate, and beatified some 1340 people, more than all his predecessors combined since the current procedures were introduced in 1588.
He waived the traditional five-year waiting period required before the process, or “cause,” could begin for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997. He beatified the Albanian nun, the first step towards sainthood, in 2003. Her order's almost 5,000 sisters worldwide, who wear blue-bordered white saris, are committed to serving the poor.
John Paul's enthusiasm for elevating Catholics to the ranks of the saints and blesseds was often attributed to his belief that it would rally the faithful and provide a bulwark against evangelizing Protestants in traditional Catholic strongholds, such as Latin America.
Though canonization ceremonies are sometimes conducted in the saint's home country, this one is likely to take place before 200,000-300,000 people outdoors in St. Peter's Square.
It coincides with Pope Benedict's Synod of Bishops in October.
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(Source: WNF)