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Pope tightens rules for beatification

John Hooper

Pope Benedict XVI

Rome: Under the late John Paul II, the Vatican ``ministry'' that approves candidates for canonisation was made to work so hard that one of his own Cardinals dubbed it the ``saint factory''.

In characteristically robust fashion, the Polish pontiff took hold of a seemingly anachronistic procedure and used it in a thoroughly modern way, as a means of communication. His canonisations were ``role models'' for Roman Catholics around the world and signalled to the faithful the sort of people of whom the Pope approved. Virtually no nation or community was forgotten as he proclaimed almost 500 saints - more than in the previous five centuries.

On a single day in October 2000, John Paul canonised 120 from China, a Sudanese slave, an American heiress, and the first female Basque saint.

But on Friday, in what appeared to be the first major policy innovation of his year-old papacy, Pope Benedict XVI quietly slid a spanner into the factory's works. In a document made public on Friday, he stressed caution and the need for strict definitions in deciding who should be proclaimed a saint.

The new hard line could have implications for John Paul II himself whom the present Pope set on the path to sainthood just 26 days after he died last year.

Conservative Roman Catholics frequently expressed dismay over the late pontiff's apparent disregard for rules laid down for canonisation and beatification, the last step before sainthood. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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