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Hi, Lenville —
Thanks for your questions.
On the process for canonization we have to first ask:
- Why do Catholics
recognize certain people as saints
in our Church?
The answer:
To be models of holiness
and virtue for the faithful on earth,
always modeled after Our Premiere
Model, Our Lord Jesus, Himself.
You said:
However, doesn't
Jesus clearly mention in the Gospel —
'Judge
not, lest ye be judged.' (Matthew
7:1)
implying that
we are not to judge whether someone
is in Heaven or Hell.
- For that
reason, how can the Pope make
a decision based on a miracle
that the particular individual
is a saint and is in Heaven
with God?
There is a widespread misunderstanding
of the term to judge in
Christianity today.
Christians have to judge all the
time. Our Lord Himself says so in the
Scriptures:
- 6 Do not give dogs what
is holy; and do not throw your
pearls before swine, lest they
trample them under foot and turn
to attack you.
(Matthew 7:6)
and
- 45 Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a merchant in search
of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding
one pearl of great value, went
and sold all that he had and bought
it.
(Matthew 13:45-46)
In both these Scripture passages,
those who Our Lord is talking to
have to make a judgment as to:
- whether what one has, is holy,
or not;
- whether what one has, is of
great value, or not.
So there is no biblical condemnation
on judgment itself.
What Our Lord is saying in Matthew
7, verse 1, is no one should impute
guilt on an immoral act.
There are many in our Church who
have never correctly been taught
the Catholic faith and many in other
non-Catholic Christian families who
have not been correctly instructed
on basic Christianity.
We should not judge them, if they
don't know what they are doing is
a sin plus, even if they do know what they
are doing is a sin, the best we can
do is warn them. Remember, it is their free will, not yours.
This is why evangelization, done
quietly and prudently within the
family environment, is important and can be extremely effective.
The process that leads to the canonization
of a person is a judgment or evaluation
of whether this person lived a holy
life that should be imitated by the
faithful in the Church.
If the Church took this [judgment|evaluation]
based on cultural wishes of the times
rather then the objective holiness of the person, it
would be lacking in Her responsibility.
You said:
- Moreover, isn't
the procedure of miracle like an
indirect 'threat'
saying that — If you haven't
performed a miracle, I won't make
you a saint?
A miracle is not a procedure. A
miracle is a supernatural event that
has taken place where scientists
cannot attribute any earthy reason
for an event to occur other than
by God/Divine Providence. If a miraculous
cure or healing has happened in accordance
with the praying to a specific person
for that healing, this is strong
evidence that this was a holy person.
If the Church did not have [rigid/strict]
criteria for the determination of
a miracle, any fraud who thought
a departed loved one was a saint
could fabricate so-called miracles
that were not really miracles.
You said:
Certain saints
during the 1960's were removed from
the list of calendar of saints by Pope Pius XII and Pope John XXIII,
respectively, one of them being St. Phenomena.
- I was wondering since
the Pope removed her from the list
of saints, what happens if a group
of Catholics prayed to her before
the declaration and it impacted their
lives?
The removal of certain saints from the Catholic liturgical calendar has cause a lot of confusion among the faithful, especially when, for example, St. Christopher was removed. Many in the Church asked whether this action meant St. Christopher was no longer a saint. (Yes, he still is a very popular saint.) That said, all Catholic prayers said to any
saint are heard immediately by that
saint, whether they are on the Catholic liturgical calendar
or not.
You said:
The King of Mysore,
India, even being a Hindu, believed
that she was a saint and went all
the way to Rome to meet Pope Pius
XII and convinced him not to remove
her name from the list.
You must be misinformed.
- Saints that the Church holds
up as models of virtue to follow,
are only declared saints after
they have passed away — died.
- No saint would demand that he
or she be on a calendar of saints.
Saints are humble and lowly, like
Our Blessed Mother was.
I hope this answers your questions.
Mike
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