Sainthood Requirements Under Scrutiny

NEWSWEEK, Jan. 31 — Despite pressure from members of the hierarchy, Pope John Paul II has said he will not eliminate the miracle requirement for canonization.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, archbishop of Genoa, complained last year that Genoese Father Giuseppe Frassinetti, a famed 19th-century confessor, would be canonized if only the Vatican would relax its rule that sainthood requires proof of two miraculous interventions. The former secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said his former superior, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the congregation, told him he would press the Pope for a change.

But the Holy Father, who previously reduced the miracle requirement from four to two and who has canonized more saints than any pope in history, told Jesuit Father Peter Gumpel of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, “I will leave that problem to my successor.”

Supporters of a relaxed rule claim modern physicians are loath to testify to miracles, but this reticence is common only in Europe. In America, for example, 55% of physicians claim to have witnessed “medical miracles.”

BBC Sells ‘Popetown’ Show to Italians

LONDON INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY, Jan. 30 — “Popetown,” a sacrilegious cartoon featuring a maniacal pontiff on a pogo stick, is not fit for Britons but fine for Italians, the BBC has decided.

The state broadcaster, which commissioned the show, shelved it two years ago after protests. The BBC has decided to recoup costs by selling it abroad.

The first purchaser is Rome satellite channel CanalJimmy, which has renamed it “Holy Smoke.” Said a spokesman, “We hope there will be a bit of controversy.”

Missouri Rabbi Overwhelmed by Pope

KANSAS CITY STAR, Jan. 29 — Rabbi Herbert Mandl, one of more than 100 Jewish leaders who had a private audience with Pope John Paul II last month, confessed that the Holy Father’s goodwill left him “almost speechless.”

The rabbi, of Kehilath Israel Synagogue in Overland Park, Mo., was touched by the Pope’s acknowledgement that Catholics are “spiritual Semites,” as Pope Pius XI declared.

“He said to me, ‘You’re my older brother,’” Rabbi Mandl said, the Star reported. “I didn’t know what that meant. Then he said, ‘Your religion gave birth to mine.’”

The Pope concluded with the Hebrew blessing of peace, “Shalom aleichem,” and Rabbi Mandl hopes the meeting will lead to “wonderful relations between leadership in the Jewish world and the Catholic world.”

Doves Fly to Different Drummer

IRISH INDEPENDENT, Jan. 31 — Just as King Canute couldn’t command the waves, Pope John Paul II has discovered, to his amusement, that he can’t command the birds.

At the end of the Pope’s Jan. 30 Angelus prayers on the theme of peace, two doves released by children refused to take flight from his window. The Holy Father pushed them off the ledge, but one flew back into the Vatican. He again launched the feathered recalcitrant, but it again returned, causing the Pope to laugh. An aide finally dispatched it.

It was a lighthearted conclusion to the Pope’s serious message, “We need to beat injustice with justices, lies with truth, revenge with forgiveness, hatred with love.”