Via La Stampa and Google Translate…
Paul VI will be beatified in 2014, probably October 19, at the conclusion of the Synod of Bishops. This was revealed by the weekly religious periodical of St. Paul Believe in the number that will be on sale from April 30, May 5, explaining that the Cardinals and Bishops members of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints will meet to confirm the miracle attributed to his intercession. And soon after, the Prefect Angelo Amato will travel by Francis to receive his assent to the enactment of the Decree.
Nothing against Pope Paul VI, but why don’t they just canonize Vatican II and get it over with?
April 24, 2014 at 3:03 pm
This is just sad and shows the Vatican's complete lack of understanding. It also show's His Holiness doesn't understand that he is Pope and not just an obscure Cardinal from South America anymore. Not to mention, how could it be pastoral to tell someone to eat their own damnation?
April 24, 2014 at 3:40 pm
Many have plenty against Pope Paul VI, and this stuff is getting patently ridiculous.
April 24, 2014 at 3:52 pm
What a pile of you know what! Sorry, I don't buy this saint making machine anymore. Paul VI? What about Leo XIII or Pius XII?
April 24, 2014 at 4:23 pm
I disagree with the comments made here. This does not have to do with the False Spirit of Vatican II it has to do with the Fact that he practiced heroic virtue and worked a miracle in the early nineties. I am not sure about Leo XIII but Francis is co widening Pius XII being made a Saint not beatified like John XXIII with a defer. Stop complain surpasses!
April 24, 2014 at 4:43 pm
He deserves it just for the practical martyrdom he suffered for Humanae Vitae.
April 24, 2014 at 4:55 pm
Unfortunately yet another example of the Church's ineptitude in the public square. A weakness that appears to be widespread in the Episcopacy. Are you paying attention Cardinal Dolan?
April 24, 2014 at 5:33 pm
*Pope John Paul I clears his throat*
April 24, 2014 at 5:36 pm
What's the rush in all of this?
April 24, 2014 at 6:18 pm
Is there anywhere a cult of devotion to this weak Pope? Outside of Humanae Vitae and Mysterium Fidei, I cannot say what good he accomplished. Can point to the bad though. I do not believe he is a saint. What about Pius XII or Pius IX for that matter? What about Leo XIII? But automatic canonization without miracles for VII??? Makes a travesty of the process.
April 24, 2014 at 6:29 pm
As a doctor, do you have any advice for someone clearly suffering from male menopause, as Mr. Achbold continues to exhibit?
April 24, 2014 at 7:04 pm
Agreed, he should have been done way before J23 & JP2. I do think that a moratorium on these processes needs to be instituted however in line with some of the cynicism expressed here.
April 24, 2014 at 7:34 pm
I think it is perfectly reasonable and just to not divulge anything the pope has said in a private pastoral context, even if the person then went public with it.
But this *is* unsatisfactory. The response should have gone a step further than just saying "anything that happened in that context does not reflect the pope's public teaching." They should have addressed and corrected the confusion that the media storm is creating. Do it pastorally, but *do* it.
April 24, 2014 at 7:36 pm
There have been worse men elected Pope. Much worse. But Paul VI is arguably the worst Pope the Church has ever had.
April 24, 2014 at 7:54 pm
Actually, no, John Paul II does, because he is the one who primarily talked Paul VI into it. Ironic that Karol Wojyla's most shining moment (I would argue) came over a decade before he was elected Pope.
The problem with Paul VI as regards Humanae Vitae is that he completely – and I do mean completely – caved in on enforcing or teaching after the immediate blowback of dissent that followed around the Western world. What about Cardinal O'Boyle of Washington, who disciplined 19 priests for open and vicious dissent on this encyclical, and got himself reprimanded by Paul Vi for his troubles, forced to revoke the canonical penalties he had imposed on them?
Multiple episcopal conferences issued statements dissenting from HV – and Paul VI did nothing. Even his brightest moment was betrayed by his complete lack of courage.
As George Weigel put it: "The Truce of 1968 taught theologians, priests and other Church professionals that dissent from authoritative teaching was, essentially, cost-free." And that truce was engineered by Paul VI.
The Church has had some great popes. It has had some bad ones. And while he may not have had the personal vices of a Medici or a Borgia, Paul VI plainly belongs in the latter category for the auto-demolition of the Church he personally helped set in motion.
April 24, 2014 at 8:31 pm
It often seems that in the desire to "pastoral" to individuals, there isn't enough pastoral concern for the faithful that are watching the events unfold.
April 24, 2014 at 8:41 pm
Isn't Vatican II already canonical?
April 24, 2014 at 8:45 pm
That is a very important observation.
April 24, 2014 at 10:07 pm
Thank you, AnneG!
April 25, 2014 at 2:56 am
I remember that situation with Cardinal O'Boyle. I was in the parish where one of those dissident priests practiced. His Eminence was treated shamefully.