Popes On Call

We have two new saints: Popes John XXII and John Paul II.  Actually, we have far more new saints than just two.   Just look around, and we’ll find them.  Every day the count rises.  As James Carroll said in his April 14 Boston Globe Opinion Piece “Heaven’s lobbyists,” people having “exemplary lives well lived on earth” are saints.  

At Christ the King we see new and older saints all the time from those involved in ministries to those who are just trying to do the “right thing” by being compassionate and loving.   Of course, we all strive for saintly behavior but often fall short – perhaps very far short. 

Nevertheless, we all were “stamped” as saints at baptism.  Although the passage of time and sometimes devilish behavior make sainthood for us appear impossible, God knows better.  After all, as noted by Father James Martin in the April 22 edition of the Washington Post (In the world today, do we still need saints?), “The church does not create saints, God does.”

Carroll said, “There is nothing sacrosanct about the rules of saint-making…Pope John Paul II changed the rules substantially in 1983, most notably removing the role of the so-called devil’s advocate, who would previously muster arguments about why a candidate should not be made a saint.”  Of historical note, Pope John Paul II named 110 saints during his 27-year pontificate.  Can any of us name more than one without checking the list?  I couldn’t.  Pope Francis now has canonized 10.  Saints preserve us; they keep marching in! 

And they march in with each baptism when I – following the lead of other deacons and priests – have all present ask the saints to pray for the children to be baptized.  We then include in the list of saints the names of these children (usually babies and toddlers) who still trust, forgive, and show no prideful behavior.  They are little saints in our charge to “keep them safe from the poison of sin.”   That’s quite a task for all of us with our tarnished halos.

So, Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXII, please pray for us.  We assume you’re on call and listening to our tweets via #popesoncall.

Deacon David Pierce