Saint-making Pope is ready to ditch the miracle clause

[emad]

The Times
From Richard Owen in Rome

CANDIDATES for sainthood will be exonerated from the requirement to have performed a miracle under guidelines being considered by the Pope.

Already under fire from some Roman Catholics for running a “saint factory”, the Pope is preparing to overturn a centuries-old rule that candidates for canonisation must have performed “medically inexplicable” posthumous miracles.

The Pope, 84, has created 482 saints in his 26 years as pontiff — more than all his predecessors put together — and has beatified 1,337 people. He believes that “latter-day saints” offer a much-needed example at a time when Christianity is under threat from secularism and rival religions.

Abolishing the need for miracles would speed up the canonisation of some of the Pope’s favourite candidates, including Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was beatified last year. It could also revive plans to beatify Robert Schuman, the French-born founder of the EU, shelved earlier this year because of lack of evidence that anyone had been cured after praying to him.

More:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1410133,00.html

INCLUDES Cardinal Ratzinger's recipie for abolition of the "miracle clause".....

[trotsky]

1. Makes sense.

After all, thanks to modern science, there are a LOT fewer "'medically inexplicable' posthumous miracles." Go figure.

[complain jane]

2. I just find the whole thing bizarre.

Sorry I don't have a better explanation of my sentiments on it.

[emad]

4. Biggest miracle: how Shrub made it to the WH....

http://prorev.com/!pope.jpg

[Whoa_Nelly]

3. What?!? No more "Mysteries"???

But, the "mysteries" are what keep people keepin' da faith.

Perhaps, with "No Murkle Needed", even a chimp can be a-beatified! Sure as shootin', that chimp can be a-wearin' a ten-gall'n hat that will glow like no halo has ever done shone!

</sarcasm>

[emad]

5. This chimp?

[saigon68]

12. WHAT A DIGNIFIED CHIMP

[Zenlitened]

6. Just part of the marketing plan. Y'know... redeploying the brand....

... and all that. :D

[emad]

7. Some day My Son all this will be yours....

[Zenlitened]

11. What? The curtains?

:D

[KurtNYC]

8. I hope the Pope puts this guy on the list

http://www.peaceheroes.com/CraigKielburger/craigkielburgerbio2.htm

At the age of 14, Craig (Kielburger) went to the slums, sweatshops, and back alleys of South Asia to find those enslaved children. He accompanied police on a raid to free children in a factory, and he went with the police when those children were returned to their parents. He talked with the families about their joys and hardships.
...
They brought a secret horror to the attention of the world --- children enslaved from an early age to work in factories and sweatshops, working 14 hour days, without a chance to go to school, beaten, mistreated, living behind barbed wire fences and cement block walls, with no future, no education, and little chance for happiness. Children enslaved as prostitutes was another secret horror that the organization addressed.
...
Free the Children persevered. Within two years, the organization had raised enough money --- from coin donations coming from classrooms --- to help fund a rehabilitation center that takes in Pakistani youngsters who have escaped slavery. The rehabilitation center provides shelter and an informal school for the young children, keeping them out of the child labor system. Germany adopted a tag called "Rugmark," for carpets that were not made through the exploitation of children.

Close enough to "Saint" in my book.

[KingChicken]

9. He's facing reality a little more, I give him credit for recent actions.

I thought he was mentally gone, but some of his recent comments seem to make a lot more sense than in the past. He knows the score, but he tries to stick to his faith.

[TlalocW]

10. There was a great Onion article

along the lines of, "Pope Goes Nuts - Starts Blessing All Sorts of Shit." The picture had him kissing a bag of Fritos, and the article dealt with how the Vatican was handling storage for everything the Pope was blessing - because once it's blessed, hey, it's blessed.

I should just get all my news from satiric websites. Makes as much sense as the real world.

TlalocW

[emad]

14. Pope to canonise General Pinochet (The Spoof)

http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s3i4222

[quaoar]

13. Bush should be a saint

1. Freepers pray to him and are cured of all common sense.

2. There is a need for a patron saint for rat bastards, assholes and war mongerers.

3. It's a miracle we are not in a depression, at war with Iran and that the deficit has not yet topped $1 trillion a year.

[WildClarySage]

15. #3

give it time....

[Stuckinthebush]

16. An interesting polytheistic religion

It is fascinating that a religion allows a human to make saints which, in effect, have supernatural powers.

Clearly, all religions have gods developed from a human image, however, none that I can think of openly allow a human to declare another deceased human as being a minor god.

I find that to be incredibly interesting.

[starroute]

18. I thought that was the point of the miracles

I don't mean to offend anyone if I've got this wrong. But my understanding has been that the Catholic belief is that saints are those people who, because of the holiness of their lives, are able after death to intercede from heaven on behalf of the living. Miracles are the necessary proof that intercession of this sort is actually happening.

In other words, the Popes have never just been able to declare anybody a saint. Rather, they've been in charge of the bureaucratic apparatus which investigates possible candidates and decides whether the criteria have been met.

So what are they proposing to change? Are they about to declare that the Pope in his infallible wisdom is able to know intuitively who is a saint and who isn't without the need for any tedious process of proof?

Or have they decided that declaring people saints is just a kind of moral uplift that bears no connection to any spiritual reality?

I'd be fascinated to learn what the theological argument behind this is.

[FlaGranny]

20. Good heavens,

saints are not supposed to be minor gods. I'm an atheist myself, but I know that Catholics don't believe saints are gods. Catholics believe that saints are, in a way, "gifted" by god. Saints are people who live the way Jesus said to live - see the other thread on Santa Claus (St. Nicholas). Saints are people who give up all wordly things to serve others who need them - the poor and the sick. In other words, a saint is the VERY BEST of what it means to be liberal. Very few people in this world are that good. I'm with the pope on this one - a super-liberal does not need to perform supernatural "miracles" to be a true saint.

[Burma Jones]

17. If I give enough money to the Church, can I be a Saint too?

or do I have to be celibate? I am a Presbyterian, will that make a difference? My wife is Jewish, just like the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that should help, doncha think? And I do have attractive children, so maybe that should also be taken into consideration.

I really find this whole Saint thing to be kinda wacky, BUT, it has provided us with some pretty good art.........

[w4rma]

19. Moving away from magic. Good. (nt)