New Rules on Criteria for Sainthood

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The Vatican Monday issued a new set of rules tightening criteria for declaring someone a saint in a move seen as a return to more traditional practices.

The 100-page document released instructs Catholic bishops to be tougher when deciding which candidates for sainthood can begin the official procedures leading to canonization, Italy's ANSA news agency reports.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's saints department, writes the new rules ask bishops to show "greater sobriety and rigor" when accepting requests to begin the first phase of the proceedings.

ANSA says in a recent interview Cardinal Martins hinted that under Pope John Paul II certain prospective saints were fast-tracked because they came from countries the pope was set to visit or countries that didn't have a saint.

A new set of rules was needed, Cardinal Martins said, "to respond better to the new spirit introduced by Benedict XVI."

Critics of Pope John Paul II said his approach had devalued sainthood in the eyes of the world.

Source

From Zenit:

In his remarks, [Cardinal Martins] explained that the aim of the document "is to contribute to ensuring that current norms for the diocesan inquiry of a cause of beatification and canonization are applied with ever greater care."

The instruction is divided into six sections. Cardinal Saraiva Martins noted the theme of each of them: "The first draws attention to the need for a true reputation of holiness before beginning a process...

Continue

For critics of the "fast track to sainthood," which has been witnessed in the recent past, this should come as a welcome return to greater consideration before moving ahead with the causes of sainthood, which also should avoid any possible mistakes of a too hasty approach.

The new rules seem to be a prudent move to a more traditional stance.   

Comments

[JustMe]

Cardinals had access for a quarter century, and there were Synods and ad limina visits, too --where was all the miffed anti-fast-track murmurings when the man was alive? Here we are in the midst of a warring world being raped and tortured and hacked from our limbs, expelled from wombs, robbed of childhood, starved into blindness and dying from a lack of meds, food, and clean water-- and yet the Bride futzes about how holy she is to be seen? It would give certain Cardinals apoplexy to know whom I venerate as saints with or without 100 years of discernment, and critics of the late Pope should speak only after visiting the same countries with John Paul II's message. I think the original Twelve, if not also their Founder, must just slap their foreheads now and again in exasperation.

[Deacon DW]

You've given me a lot to consider. I figure with the kind of sanctity they're looking for that ordinary--every day--saints, the Dorothy Days among us, will never have a chance. We must ask ourselves what our everyday sainthood should look like.

[Gabrielle]

He "hinted"? I'm all for bishops being instructed to use greater sobriety and rigor, but I can think of a few other areas where I'd prefer it to be applied.

[Deacon DW]

I have to admit there were a lot of times when I felt like things were moving awfully fast. I don't think slowing down is so much a bad idea--we'll still have our canonized saints and our everyday saints, both are venerable. Taking more time just seems prudent to me.

[JustMe]

I thought Rome moved way too fast with Josemaria Escriva, as did the Opus Dei prelature itself, but if the Pope says so, then I must cease my own murmurings. He may actually know something I don't, considering he is the Skipper of this mighty vessel-- and that the original one depended on the Holy Spirit's guidance as well. I don't know what to say of the Dorothy Days, saint-wise. I know that she gave up what we'd call a sinful life in her conversion, and adopted every prayer of the Church as her own standard and means of living. She was a gorgeous and intelligent woman, easily marriagable, yet she humbly laid down her life in an unacknowledged-except-by-Him vocation of love, became beggar for her friends, the poor, and worked for true social justice day and night, owning nothing and even at the cost of being jailed with genuine criminals, and of course, still persecuted.. all for living the Gospel heroically.

She also would not allow a mere tea cup and a china plate for the offering of the Lord, and not only attended Mass daily, but talked about Christ with others nightly, attended retreats, Adoration, etc. Her middle name was "Catholic," but a number of folks don't want to think so; they are even hesitant to say that certainly given the option, she'd have later reversed her decision to have aborted a child from before her conversion.

While there may seem some cause to drag our feet on her canonization, why so on Bl. Alexandrina? Again, there may be much I don't know. I will leave it to the Pope. If he polls the Cardinals, alright. If he doesn't, that's alright, too. Exactly whom are they going to trust, if not the Supreme Pontiff??

We're all pretty picky for different reasons, and perhaps all are well-intentioned. As I myself hinted, my holy grandmother is one whom I venerate in my heart. If I gauge my life according to her own lights, I won't miss landing in Heaven.