by emad » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:27 pm
John Paul's sainthood opposed <br><br>John Hooper in Rome<br>Thursday December 8, 2005<br>The Guardian <br><br><br>A group of prominent Roman Catholic theologians and writers has revealed it is trying to stop the late pope John Paul II being declared a saint. In a document being circulated in Rome, they say the Vatican should take account of decisions reached by the Polish pontiff "that ought to be an obstacle to [his] beatification".<br><br>Following emotional scenes at the late pope's funeral, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, set him on a fast track to beatification - the first step towards sainthood - last June. Normally, the procedures cannot begin until five years after death.<br><br>The late pontiff's critics list a series of reasons why he should not be canonised. They include John Paul's failure to check "the devastating plague of abuse by clerics of minor".<br><br>The signatories, from Italy, Spain, Austria and Latin America, appealed to other "Catholic men and women who hold a largely negative view of John Paul II's work" to tell the Vatican why they believed he should not be beatified.<br><br>The signatories include Giovanni Franzoni, once abbot of St Paul's in Rome, and the Spanish Jesuit theologian José María Castillo. Other allegations levelled against the late pope were his refusal to change the church's teaching on sexual matters, his repression of progressive theologians and his failure to end "murky" financial dealings with the Vatican bank and Banco Ambrosiano, which went bankrupt in 1982.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1661740,00.html">www.guardian.co.uk/pope/s...40,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br> <p></p><i></i>
