IMAGE: CNS/L’Osservatore Romano
By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Blessed Paul VI could be declared a
saint in 2018, perhaps during the Synod of Bishops, an institution he re-established
after the Second Vatican Council, according to the newspaper of his home
diocese.
La Voce del Popolo, the newspaper of the Diocese of Brescia,
Italy, reported Dec. 21 that the medical commission and theological commission
of the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes both gave positive opinions
about a healing that could be the miracle needed for the pope’s canonization.
The cardinals and bishops who are members of the
congregation still need to vote for recognition of the miracle, and Pope
Francis also must recognize it before holding a consistory to formally approve the canonization.
But the headline in the diocesan newspaper proclaimed,
“It will be the year of St. Paul VI.”
“The rumors are so insistent and the steps so quick
that everything indicates 2018 will be the year of the canonization of Blessed
Paul VI,” the newspaper reported.
The theological commission met Dec. 13 and voted to
recognize the intercession of Blessed Paul in healing an unborn baby and
helping her reach full term, the newspaper said. The baby’s mother, who was
told she had a very high risk of miscarrying the baby, had prayed for Blessed
Paul’s intercession a few days after his beatification by Pope Francis in 2014.
The Italian baby girl was born healthy and still is healthy
today, La Voce del Popolo said.
The canonization in 2018 “is more than a hope,”
the newspaper said. “The month of October could be the right one,”
given that the Synod of Bishops will be meeting at the Vatican Oct. 3-28 to
discuss young people and helping them discern their vocations.
“What better occasion could there be to canonize,
before such a significant portion of the College of Bishops, the other pope of
the Second Vatican Council?” the paper asked. St. John XXIII, who opened
the council and presided over its first session, was canonized in 2014.
Blessed Paul succeeded him as pope in 1963, presided over
the last three sessions of the council and began the process of implementing
its decisions. He died in 1978 at the age of 80.
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