Q: In talking with friends about the beatification of Pope John Paul II, I have found a degree of scepticism including among Catholics. They say the Church has rushed through the whole process due to popular pressure. How can I answer them?
There is no doubt that there was widespread demand for the beatification and canonisation of the beloved Pope John Paul II.
Everyone remembers seeing those placards at his funeral: “Santo subito” – “A saint soon”. They captured the sentiment of very many people. But the Church doesn’t beatify or canonise someone merely on the strength of popular demand.
It is also true that Pope John Paul’s cause was quicker than usual.
Due to the widespread belief in his sanctity, Pope Benedict XVI waived the usual five-year waiting period after the death for the cause to begin.
As a result, he was beatified just six years after his death.
But the painstaking thoroughness of the process has not been compromised in the slightest.
All the normal steps were gone through, including the study of testimonies about his life and holiness, the questioning of witnesses by tribunals, the examination of his writings, etc.
In addition, a rigorous medical and theological examination was made of the miracle of the cure from Parkinson’s disease of a French nun.
Significantly, the cure took place in July 2005, only three months after the Pope’s death. In short, his cause was not given preferential treatment. With many people working on the cause, all these steps could be gone through in much less time than usual.
We should be very clear that Pope John Paul was not merely an influential and popular Pope – he was a true saint.
This is why the Church is beatifying him. Among the evidence of his sanctity was his extraordinary generosity in giving his belongings to the poor. Mgr Slawomir Oder, the Postulator of his cause, tells in his book Why he is a Saint how, on one occasion when the Pope was a priest in Poland, he was delayed in arriving for his Mass one morning.
The sacristan went to his lodgings to see what was wrong and found that he had given his only pair of shoes to a poor man the day before and had nothing to wear. The sacristan gave him his shoes so that he could say Mass.
On another occasion when Fr Karol had no warm jumper in the middle of winter, some nuns made him one but he soon gave it away. He insisted that even his underwear be mended when it had worn out rather than buying new garments.
Another important aspect of his holiness was his deep and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Mgr Oder, in an interview with the newsagency Zenit, said that in examining his life, “What came to light was certainly a mystic. A mystic in the sense that he was a man who lived in the presence of God, who let himself be guided by the Holy Spirit, who was in constant dialogue with the Lord …” He said that those who worked with him would often find the Pope in a raptus mistico, a rapture, “in which [John Paul II] was in such a profound dialogue with the Lord that the only thing one could do was to stand back and let him live this moment.”
He was also very much in love with Our Lady. It is well known how he would take advantage of any interval between appointments or when travelling to pray the Rosary. Following St Louis de Montfort, he was totally dedicated to the Mother of God, adopting Totus tuus, “All yours”, as his motto and putting an “M” for Mary beneath the cross on his papal coat of arms.
And from his youth, when he became interested in Carmelite spirituality, he was very demanding on himself in penance. In the course of his process of beatification, some of his penances became known for the first time and they even bothered some people. But, as Mgr Oder comments, “this was a sign of his profound faith, of his spiritual life.”
Those close to him said that he would lose many kilos in Lent due to his rigorous fasting.
In short, Pope John Paul II was a true saint and he will be a powerful intercessor for the Church, especially for the youth. His feast day will be 22 October.