Kateri Devotees Hope for Canonization in Toronto

THE GUELPH MERCURY, March 9 — Could this be the year for three canonizations in North America?

Pope John Paul II will canonize Blessed Juan Diego on July 30 in Mexico City and Blessed Pedro de San Jose de Betancur on July 31 in Guatemala.

But the Ontario daily raises the possibility that while he is in Toronto for World Youth Day on July 23-28 he might raise to the altars Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. The Lily of the Mohawks was born in Auriesville, N.Y., and died at the age of 24 in Quebec, after escaping persecution. Her people had rejected her after she converted to Christianity.

Blessed Kateri has been declared a patroness of this year's World Youth Day gathering. Proof of one more miracle due to her intercession is needed for canonization.

Pope Paul Had Letter of Resignation Ready

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, March 7 — Revelations of a letter of resignation Pope Paul VI had written, mean little as regards Pope John Paul II's situation, said one Vatican official.

Pope Paul's former secretary, Italian Archbishop Pasquale Macchi, wrote in a new book that the Vatican II-era Pope prepared a letter of resignation to be used if he became too ill to continue running the Church. Canon lawyers had assured him there were no impediments to a Pope resigning.

The French news agency pointed out that the book came out as “the current Pope is clearly ailing” due to an arthritic knee and Parkinson's disease-like symptoms.

But Cardinal Roberto Tucci, head of Vatican Radio, said the Pope would never resign as long as he could work. Cardinal Tucci, who knows Pope John Paul well after years as organizer of his foreign trips, said the Holy Father is “holding up well.”

“I believe that John Paul II can count on a great internal strength,” he said. “His physique is well used to austerity. But I think that his strongest support is prayer. That's where his strength is.”

The Pope, who turns 82 in May, said he has no intention of stepping down. He joked with journalists last year, “I wouldn't know whom to present my resignation to.”

Russian Duma Hears Debate on Vatican Relations

NTV, March 7 — The tension between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church has spilled over to the Duma of the Russian legislature. A member of the Union of Right Forces party, Vladimir Semenov, urged that Pope John Paul II be invited to visit Moscow.

“Instead of attempting to establish a dialogue with the Vatican, for over a month the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church have shown nothing but hysteria,” he said during a debate broadcast on the Russian television station. “This reaction on the part of the Russian Orthodox Church reminds one of death throes.”

He pointed out that the Pope already has visited many of the former Soviet countries, where the Orthodox Church is also very strong.

But Vladimir Zhirinovskiy, leader of the Liberal Democratic party, replied, “It is the West that is in death throes, where all religions have collapsed and now they are trying to creep in here — to the world's only spiritual land.”

He remarked that if someone wants good relations with the Vatican, “Please help yourself — there are excellent tours to Italy available. … We are a Russian Orthodox country.”