Christopher Ferrara at The Remnant has a barn burner of a post looking at the canonization of Archbishop Enrique Angelelli:
In June of 2018, Pope Bergoglio approved the “martyrdom” of the leftwing radical Argentine prelate Enrique Angelelli, Bishop of La Rioja, who died in a car crash in 1976. On April 27, 2019 Angelelli and three others who opposed Argentina’s military regime during the Dirty War (1974-1983) were “beatified” as “martyrs” for the Faith at a ceremony in La Rioja presided over by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
As a young Jesuit, Bergoglio had heard one of Angelelli’s social Gospel sermons wherein he gave the advice that evangelization means “one ear to listen to the word of God and one to listen to the people.” That God speaks to the Church through “the people,” meaning the poor and the oppressed but not the contemptible wealthy elites Francis never ceases denouncing, is a prime tenet of Liberation Theology and its justification for revolutionary movements.
No proof of miracles was necessary, nor was any forthcoming. It sufficed that Bergoglio had deemed Angelelli a martyr on account of his “commitment to social justice and to promoting the dignity of the human person.” There was no suggestion that Angelelli had been killed on account of hatred of some article of the Catholic faith. Indeed, even assuming he was murdered—an assumption unsupported by any real evidence, as discussed below—for all we know his alleged killer or killers, who probably would have been Catholic themselves, might have considered that it was Angelelli who hated the Faith. After all, faithful in his own diocese had already dubbed him “Satanelli.”
This preposterous beatification outdoes even that of Oscar Romero as a mockery of the beatification process. Over the past six years, Bergoglio has definitively demonstrated the fallibility of beatifications while undermining even confidence in the general opinion of theologians that canonizations are infallible, given his patently ideological determination to canonize every Pope involved with the Second Vatican Council, including the hapless and immensely destructive Paul VI, as to whom there was no preexisting cult nor any unambiguous miracle worked by his purported intercession.
Before discussing the imposture of this beatification, some historical context for Angelelli’s ill-starred ecclesiastical career is in order.
Go here to read the rest. The worst damage underway in regard to this papacy is the destruction of the trust that ordinary Catholics had in their Pope. Everything is tainted in this Vatican, even the recognition of saints.
A Saint is somebody who has lived out their ordinary life in an extraordinary way for God, with humility.
Sure..sure..ya it’s a very very complicated process. Just call on da’ expert, Father Guido Sarducci and it’s a done deal.
Even if dar’ no miracles are investigated but da’ servant of God died as a result of driving on the 5 in Orange County California during morning rush hour…well dats’ all it’s needed. He’s a martyr fur’a sure.
May God rest his soul and may Our Holy Church remember that regardless of the current helmsman, the captain of the ship knows what is going on and is in complete control. We place our Trust in Christ. Pray for the Pope’s conversion.
Romero was the subject of a political murder. The question there would be whether or not the motive was his Catholic witness.
The timing of many canonizations are political to some degree. Sadly, the canonization process seems to have, in effect, denigrated to enshrining Cults of Personality to a great extent. And that didn’t start with Pope Francis.
Sure, personality cults can be an issue in canonizations. But for Paul VI and this particular Argentine bishop, it seems that the lack of a popular cult is more the issue. Unless by “cult” you mean “admiring fellow cleric.”
Restoring the “devil’s advocate” is an absolute must.
[…] POLITICIZED CANONIZATIONS […]
Restoring the “devil’s advocate” is an absolute must.
Agreed. You and I both know Dale what a sham legal proceedings are quickly reduced to without competent counsel on both sides, and traditionally the Church regarded the canonization process in some sense as a legal proceeding.
The restoration of the Devil’s Advocate is an absolute must in my view. The canonization of a saint should be the fruit of a rigorous process. The memory of the particular saint being canonized deserves that.
I think at the very least fifty years should elapse after the death of a pope before his cause can even be opened. For a pontificate as long as JPII’s at a hundred years. The whole Santo Subito craze that took place even before JPII’s death and especially immediately after was disastrous, especially with the whole Maciel debacle. Until this day, we are not sure how aware St. JPII was of what was really going on there. If there is another shoe bound to drop in that case, it could do serious harm to credibility of his canonization and the canonization of saints as a whole.
Even under the old system, just under forty years had elapsed between the death and canonization of Pius X. A bit hasty for a pope.
What St John Paul achieved in his lifetime was remarkable. Saints are human and therefore would absolutely have made bad calls throughout their lifetime- St John Paul 2 being no exception. And I’m certain if we lived in the time of some of the greatest Saints in our Church there would have likely been personal criticisms of these mortals. They just lived out their lives in extraordinary and heroic ways.
I’m biased here- my husband has a great admiration of St John Paul 2 and I’m sure it wasn’t a coincidence that in 2013, my last chemo was on 22nd October- St. John Paul 2 Feast Day. St JP2 was opposed to liberation theology and this was obvious when he became vocally opposes to the use of artificial contraception, even refusing to condone it for use in poorer countries regardless of how much the world banged on about the poor and population problems. St Mother Teresa was another saint also (she also had a quick path to canonisation).
However I’m not aware of the details
of some of the recent “speedy” beatification and saint-hoods, so Im not sure if it’s a good thing or bad thing.