John XXIII's Beatification Looks Certain

FAMIGLIA CRISTIANA, Dec. 3—Pope John XXIII's beatification will take place next Sept. 3, said Italy's top-selling weekly magazine in a cover story on the “good pope.”

Pope John Paul's calendar for the Holy Year 2000 includes a beatification ceremony Sept. 3 in St. Peter's Square, although the person or people to be beatified have not been formally named.

Pope John's pontificate lasted from 1958 to 1963, during which he convoked the Second Vatican Council.

The magazine said it was almost certain that Pope John Paul II would formally recognize Pope John's heroic virtues during a Dec. 20 meeting with the Congregation for Sainthood Causes — a step that must precede beatification.

In an unusual move, the congregation's panel of physicians already has said the miracle submitted in Pope John's cause had no natural explanation. Review by a panel of theologians and official papal recognition of the miracle are still needed, but are considered almost certainties.

Canonization is Infallible, Theologians Think

VATICAN RADIO, Nov. 29—In an interview with Vatican Radio, Archbishop José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, explained the degree of authority that is in force when a pope canonizes a saint:

“Canonization is a definitive judgment, unchangeable, on the sanctity of a person and it is a pronouncement that involves the Pope's supreme authority, touching on the pontifical dogma of infallibility. It is an opinion that is virtually agreed to by all Catholic theologians.”

As for the cult that is rendered to the blessed and the saints, Archbishop Martins explained: “With beatification the Pope permits limited worship in particular places and communities, for example, in a diocese or among the members of a religious order. With canonization, the Holy Father prescribes that a blessed be venerated as a saint by the whole Church.”