Here is a fascinating account of the attempt to canonize the late Pope John Paul II, that is, to declare him a saint: Charting a Path to Sainthood. Catholic scholars are looking for a medical miracle caused by praying to him–and have apparently found at least one–but must work through the counter-arguments by the devil’s advocates, which amount to mainly that he was too conservative. But the process shows that the old Catholicism challenged by the Reformation still remains.
St. John Paul?
June 2nd, 2008 | Church | 
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Can you elaborate? By “the old Catholicism”, do you mean recognizing saints at all, or having strict criteria for them, or what? Canonizing saints isn’t unique to Roman Catholicism.
[...] UPDATE: United Press International adds more to the story. Others are blogging about JPII and sainthood here and here and here, and finally, here. [...]
[...] The More Things Change, The More Things Stay the Same (2 June 2008) - Gene Veith provides an interesting comment on a Washington Post article detailing the efforts being made to canonize Pope John Paul II. As Veith writes, “…[T]he process shows that the old Catholicism challenged by the Reformation still remains.” [...]
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Gene Edward Veith is the Provost and Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.
Lucas Cranach, self portrait c.1530.
About Lucas Cranach
Lucas Cranach was the great artist of the Reformation. He was a close friend of Martin Luther. He was a businessman, who first printed Luther's translation of the Bible; a politician, who served on the Wittenberg town council and served the city as its mayor; a chemist, who operated a pharmacy; a teacher, who trained a host of apprentice artists; a family-man, who helped arrange Luther's marriage with the two men serving as the godfathers of each other's children; and an active layman in his church, who gave his pastors important personal and material support. As a Christian who lived out his faith in his many different callings, Cranach thus embodies the Reformation doctrine of vocation, using the gifts God had given him in service to Christ and his neighbor in the church, the family, the workplace, and the culture. In the spirit of Lucas Cranach, this blog will discuss wide-ranging issues of Christianity and culture with a Lutheran twist.
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