Holysis of a Pope is no longer self -evident and the path to holiness requires rigorous and years of evaluation.

Although two of the five popes before Pope Francis have been declared saints, the emergence of St. Peter’s throne does not automatically imply sanctification or at least no longer, as the New York Times reports.

In the early years of the Roman Catholic Church, most popes, starting with Saint Peter, who is considered the first Pontiff, were proclaimed saints after their death. Of the first 50 popes, 48 ​​were honored with this title. Over time, however, this practice became much rare.

To date, 80 of the 266 popes that have served over nearly 2,000 years have been sanctified. Another 11 are on a “waiting list” in the penultimate step before sanctification.

The procedure requires years of investigations and evaluations by the Church, especially by the Court of Justice for the Saints’ cases. Vatican officials and their advisers examine their life, virtue, holiness and dedication of candidates to God and carefully study their writings. Those who meet the criteria are proclaimed “respect”.

The next step is the “blessing”, which requires the court for the Saints’ cases to accept the validity of a miracle achieved through the mediation of the candidate. Then, in order to declare a saint, the Vatican must recognize the validity of a second miracle that is also attributed to his mediation. The final decision on sanctification is taken by the pope.

The most recent Pope named Saint was Paul VII in 2018. Four years earlier, John KG and John Paul Bi had been declared a common ceremony.

For most of the history of the church, decades have usually passed between a person’s death and the beginning of his sanctification process.

According to University researcher Harvard Rachel McLinri, from 1588 to 1978, the average time between death to sanctification was 262 years. During the last three popes, this time has been reduced to just over 100 years, partly because John Paul II reduced the required waiting for the start of the process in just five years after death.

Priest

Even this can be bypassed. At the funeral of John Pavlos II in 2005, attended by hundreds of thousands of faithful, they were raised and heard slogans “Santo, Subito” (“Saint, Immediately”). His successor, Benedict EVI, bypassed the waiting, allowing him to be sanctified just nine years after his death.

However, after a Vatican report in 2020, which found that John Paul II may have ignored complaints of sexual abuse against former cardinal Thodor McCarik, critics said that his sanctification might have become prematurely.