Saturday, January 15, 2011
It’s a miracle! No, I’m not talking about the Catholic Church annulment of Rudy Giuliani’s marriage to his cousin. I’m talking about Pope Benedict XVI setting May 1st as the date for the late John Paul’s beatification — the next step toward Catholicism’s highest honor: the creation of a new saint.
With the Catholic Church still reeling from the global priest sex abuse scandal, and saints and heros in short supply (other than Saint Sarah of Wasilla), Benedict put John Paul on the fast track to sainthood just weeks after he died, waiving the customary five-year waiting period before the process could begin and beating even that of the far more worthy Mother Teresa’s beatification in 2003 by a few days.
Such an accolade is not without controversy. John Paul was accused of responding slowly when the sex abuse scandal erupted in the U.S. in 2002. Many of the thousands of cases that emerged last year involved crimes and cover-ups during John Paul’s 26-year rule.
Critics have faulted John Paul’s overriding concern with preserving the rights of accused priests at the expense of victims.
The most damaging case linked to John Paul concerned the Rev. Marciel Maciel, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a rightwing order beloved by the late John Paul because of its orthodoxy, fundraising prowess and ability to attract priestly vocations.
Allegations that Maciel had raped young seminarians were brought by the victims to the Vatican in the 1990s, but under orders from John Paul’s No. 2, a canonical trial was shelved. Only after Benedict became pope was Maciel sanctioned in 2006; Maciel died two years later.
From the Left 
So beatification is akin to winning a Golden Globe award?
A sort of precursor to winning an Oscar? One naturally leads to another and history is written?
You know what they say? Winning an Oscar can be a career killer.
Just keeping it real.
This is a deliberate endorsement by Ratzi of JPII’s pro child molestation policies.
This nonsense is justified in part by the testimony of a wacky French nun who claims she was cured by John Paul of MS.
I remember this case very well. Numerous professional people I know in healthcare, as well as a family member who has suffered with MS for more than 20 years, all said the samething. People with MS frequently go into what’s called “medical remission,” and the symptoms of this terrible disease appear to improve and even resolve entirely. Only to return again in the future. MS is a highly unpredictable disease and there has never been a case of an MS victim suddenly being cured of its ravages.
Beatifying pedophile-enablers, who looked the other way whilst boys and girls were raped over decades, is appalling and about as sickening a thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
The Roman Catholic Church is a damned freak show. Arguably worse than the Scientologists.
The only real “Miracle” concerning the Catholic church…… is that so many people still believe the line of CRAP that they put out!
retahyajyajav – I’m sorry about your family member suffering from MS. I had an aunt who fought MS for more than 30 years. It’s a horrible thing to have.
There’s this man in Brazil named John of God who lives in a tiny village and has been allegedly curing people of a myriad of diseases and illnesses for many years. Oprah sent a team there to look into the claims and she featured him in her O Magazine.
John of God has allegedly cured people of cancer, tumors, AIDS, mental illnesses like schizophrenia, and even neurological diseases. Is he for real or are the results just mind-over-matter? I don’t know and I don’t fell qualified to say. But there is something going on down there in Brazil and it’s attracting thousands of people who are sick and have no hope with modern medicine.
For the sake of discussion, let’s assume Pope John Paul cured this French nun from MS? Let’s also for the sake of discussion assume John of God in Brazil is curing hundred of people of a laundry list of serious diseases.
Who then, is the real saint?.
I’ll tell you what fascinates me. The large percentage of detectives who use the services of psychics to help them solve murder cases.
Cops don’t casually admit it but, I have watched a ton of reality crime shows over the years and I’ve seen many detectives say a psychic helped them get to the bottom of a cold case. I can’t explain it and neither can they but, it would appear that not everything in modern life can be solved by science.
It’s all pretty interesting.
I saw the Oprah episode about John of God. She sent a journalist and two doctors to Brazil to look at the so-called miracles.
They’re conclusion was, whatever is taking place in that village defies all reason and logic but they were forced to admit, something is happening and people are leaving cured. Even one of the doctors of the Oprah Show’s team had a spontaneous bleed take place. It was freaky as hell.
Fuck the Catholic church and their saints, too.
it was reported that the Vatican had confirmed Pope John Paul II’s first miracle (the curing of a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, of Parkinson’s disease), with the official beatification ceremony scheduled for 1 May 2011. That’s some fast-tracking for an institution that took 367 years to issue a formal apology to Galileo Galilei.
(For the record, it was reported in 2007 that the miraculously recovered Sister Marie Simon-Pierre had suffered a relapse, although the Church denied this. Admittedly, her miracle cure has been proven to the satisfaction of several medical personnel – albeit doctors approved by the Vatican. However, cynics have noted that the happy coincidence that Pope John-Paul II’s first miracle relates to Parkinson’s disease, from which he himself suffered, will certainly add to his purported miraculous powers.)
In any case, the 2nd test is a miracle has to happen after the death of the potential saint. If I prayed that the sky would be blue on Tuesday & it was, then the 2nd miracle would be clinched.
No wonder I bailed from the Catholic Church, after having it served up to me for 18 years thru high school. I never could relate to the whole “kiss my ring” Pope deal, and hypocrisy had already turned me off. The more I learned about religion, the less I liked Catholicism. What kind of doctrine is follow this religious path or go to hell? That’s not the gist I got from the bible.
The rampant & allowed to be hidden/forgiven sexual abuse situation closed the door for me.
Turning a blind eye to sex abusing criminals- even aiding & abetting, by moving them to different parishes is far from Saintly.
Yes, John Paul II is sure a Saint……. Preventing Africans from using Condoms to stem the Spread of AIDS, causing Millions of them to die. Denying adherants of Catholicism the right to Birth-control & Abortion, causing MILLIONS of unwanted, unloved children to be born…… and causing World Population to spiral out of control, which helps, only the cause of massive widespread hunger throughout the world. And protecting all of his Pedophile priests from being prosecuted by the law. While telling the Abused that they couldn’t tell about the Abuse, because it would make Geebus sad. Yeah, well if he’s a Saint of the Catholickass chuuch…. maybe HITLER should be made one of their saints too….. The Fucking Katholickass chuuch……… the ENEMY of the HUMAN RACE! Remember, kiss their ass………. or Geebus will be mad at you, you sheep!
Hey, you know who they should really make into a Saint……….. The guy who designs their beautiful flowing dresses for them! Stylish, and yet there’s enough room underneath to hide a young child….. ready to be molested!
John Paul looks an awful lot like the brother of Edith Massey, or Edie the Egg Lady in John Waters’ seminal cult film, Pink Flamingos.
Were they related?
The old fuck looks like he’s trying to escape from the special bus during a school field trip.
As for the claims John Paul cured MS or Parkinsons or whatever, all I would say is, where are the independent medical records to support the claim? Did a team of doctors look at the nun’s medical records and come to the same conclusion?
So by helping vicious predators beat the rap, you can be beatified?
Sounds about right to me.
I try to speak not badly of anyone’s religious or spiritual beliefs but the fact is, the Roman Catholic Church is drenched in the stench of sex abuse by priest. They have victimized children and adults alike and the hierarchy systematically tried to bury the criminality by promoting and transferring the offending priests. This is nothing short of evil and it certainly isn’t what I thought and expected of Christianity.