Pope John Paul II to be beatified May 1

[onehandle]

Source: AP

VATICAN CITY – The pope on Friday signed off on the miracle needed to beatify Pope John Paul II, and set May 1 as the date to honor one of the most beloved popes of all times as a model of saintliness for the church.

Pope Benedict XVI said in a decree that a French nun's recovery from Parkinson's disease was miraculous, the last step needed for beatification. A second miracle is needed for the Polish-born John Paul to be made a saint.

"This is a huge and important cause of joy," Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz told reporters at his residence in the Polish capital.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime secretary and friend, expressed "huge thanks" to Benedict for the decree. "We are happy today," he said. Benedict put John Paul on the fast track to possible sainthood just weeks after he died in 2005, responding to the chants of "Santo Subito!" or "Sainthood immediately!" that erupted during his funeral.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_vatican_john_paul_ii

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[Hosnon]

1. The RCC has made the concept of "miracle" meaningless.

Lame.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

Or maybe we're just too sophisticated now, too technical,

too skeptical, too investigative.

If we could take our technology back a few centuries and record the miracles that justified sainthood, I think we'd see quite a few mere coincidences, some parlor tricks, and some odd natural occurences that just couldn't be explained at the time.

I'm guessing that most miracles were never miracles. But, to cover my lack of faith, I'd have bought a few dispensations. Just in case.

:hi:

[LynneSin]

10. Maybe the miracle was the RCC didn't go bankrupt in light of the Priest Abuse scandal

They should have - what they allowed to happen was disgusting

[GillesDeleuze]

17. exactly.

jp ii was instrumental to the institutionalization of child rape.

[Devil_Fish]

33. that's the second miracle. JP2 is now a Saint. Thanks LynneSin. NT

[madinmaryland]

2. I need to pay attention to what is written. I thought it say he was going to be beaten.

:shrug:

[LeftishBrit]

5. And I managed to read it at first as 'beautified'!

[gkhouston]

7. Yeah, I also thought he was going to the day spa.

:rofl:

[placton]

3. pure marketing, which is of course

why the RCC has become part of the vast right wing conspiracy at its top levels.

[Bonhomme Richard]

4. +1 n/t

[MissHoneychurch]

6. Why????

:shrug:

[LynneSin]

8. You know, I'm not Catholic and I use to think this guy was kinda cool

He was like your grandfather, in fact he kinda looked like my grandfather.

But there is no miracle whatsoever when he turned away from those children who suffered abuse by the hands of Catholic Priests. He doesn't deserve this honor.

[msongs]

9. patron saint of child molestors? nt

[Ian David]

11. I didn't know covering-up pedophilia was considered a Miracle.

Or maybe hiding the children of Holocaust survivors from their surviving Jewish families is a miracle?

Or convincing poor people dying of AIDS not to use condoms?

[GillesDeleuze]

18. ding ding.

exactamundo.

[robcon]

12. He was a great man, made tremendous achievements.

He should be honored.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

13. I think so too.

He had faults but he was much better than many of the other popes the Church has had over the centuries.

[GillesDeleuze]

16. with an asterisk

that he covered up the rape of children and provided a state to hide repeat rapists of children

[glinda]

22. The current Pope was involved with that. People surrounding PJPII were shocked

at Ratszinger's election. Many saw him too conservative as compared to PJPII.
At PJPII's funeral, when people chanted for "Sainthood", Ratzinger turned around and glared and scowled at the people. Ratizinger, I believe, does not want PJPII to be Beatified at all. It is most likely from hugh pressure from people and also a "marketing move". It is sad.
The Dalai Lama once said that after meeting PJPII, that he knew he was a Holy Man.

[GillesDeleuze]

25. Im shocked! Shocked! to find gambling.. y'know the rest.

[Ian David]

19. What, for pardoning Galileo? n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Has John XXIII been beatified yet?

Now there's someone who really deserves to be honored. He didn't live very long, but he changed the Roman Catholic Church so much for the better in many ways.

[GillesDeleuze]

15. oh boy. this myth again.

until you address the rape of children, saying mass in english doesn't really cut it for me.

[LynneSin]

20. For those of us clueless about these things - what is this all about

:shrug:

[GillesDeleuze]

21. The pope provided an entire state

known as the vatican, to shuffle around child rapist priests to avoid prosecution in the territory of their crimes. very well documented.

[thaddeus_flowe]

27. or paul vi

i'm a classics major, and we just read nostra aetate and the second vatican
getting that passed was the most forward thinking the church has done since conquering rome.
jp ii was interesting, he gets a lot of recognition for bringing down the iron curtain in poland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nostra_aetate

[Kolesar]

23. "Three miracles, and I heard two of them were card tricks"

--Father Guido Sarducci (Don Novello)

[n2doc]

24. JPII - Patron Saint of Child Molesters n/t

[hedgehog]

26. There are some rumblings within the Catholic Church about this -

for whatever reasons, John Paul II would not listen to warnings about the Rev. Marcial Maciel of Mexico, founder and head of the Legionaries of Christ. There is serious discussion now whether the Legionaries can be reformed, or whether the physical and emotional of members are inherent in the structure of the group.

In the meantime, the only way to clear John Paul II of the accusation he shielded Maciel is to put the blame on the person who should have taken care of the matter for him, the current Pope, Benedict XVI.

The reason John Paul II is on fast track to sainthood is that conservative elements are busy "reforming the reform ", trying to overthrow the changes brought about after Vatican II. John Paul II is seen as holding the line against married priests, female priests and sexual issues.

Meanwhile, despite being ignored by the Vatican, Oscar Romero is treated as a saint by the people of Latin America.

[Matilda]

34. Hedgehog, you nailed it.

John XXIII, who was by any definition a good Christian man, is on the back burner, because he was responsible for Vatican II, and the hierarchy wish it had never happened.

I liked JPII for about the first ten years, but as he got older, he became more and more reactionary. And to be honest, I don't think he was ever the brightest crayon in the box either.

The dreadful Josemaria Escriva was also fast-tracked, by JPII, and a less saintly man I can't imagine. But JPII shared his vision, and presto!, he's a saint.

I'm tired of the politics of canonisation.

[UrbScotty]

28. Pope John Paul II moves a step closer to sainthood (beatification on May 1)

Source: Yahoo

During Pope John Paul II's 2005 funeral, crowds at the Vatican shouted for him to be made a saint immediately. "Santo subito!" they chanted for one of the most important and beloved pontiffs in history.

His successor heard their call. On Friday, in the fastest process on record, Pope Benedict XVI set May 1 as the date for John Paul's beatification — a key step toward Catholicism's highest honor and a major morale boost for a church reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal.

He set the date after declaring that a French nun's recovery from Parkinson's disease was the miracle needed for John Paul to be beatified. A second miracle is needed to be canonized a saint.

Benedict himself will preside at the May 1 ceremony, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Rome for a precedent-setting Mass: Never before has a pope beatified his immediate predecessor.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110114/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_john_paul_ii

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Wow. I figured it would be just a matter of time. He was such a legendary figure, and perhaps the most beloved person in my lifetime.

[Monk06]

29. Sainthood is becoming as common and relevant as frequent flyer points. 1st prize sainthood,

second prize, free toaster oven. If this keeps up Catholics
will be just as heretical as Mormons. Glad I'm not a Christian
life is to short for this kind of metaphysical malarkey.

[MilesColtrane]

30. For a minute there I thought I missed the news stories in which JP2 laid his hands on someone and...

cured them of an incurable disease. I would think that would have been pretty big news.

Turns out that he cured this woman AFTER he was dead. ...even more miraculous.

So if I have an incurable disease and I pray to Morey Amsterdam, and I'm healed, does that mean that the Human Joke Machine is a beatific saint?

[Ter]

31. Ironic how a hard-line anti-commie will be honored on the one day celebrated most by Communists

With that said, he was the most amazing and well known Pope in several hundred years, so this is no surprise.

[Name removed]

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