4 Priests with cardboard cut-outs of Pope John XXIII, left, and Pope John Paul II. (AP)
Pope Francis yesterday declared his two predecessors, John XXIII and John Paul II, saints before some 800,000 people, in an unprecedented ceremony made even more historic by the presence in St. Peter’s Square of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.
Never before has a reigning and retired pope celebrated Mass together in public, much less at an event honoring two of their most famous predecessors.
Benedict’s presence was a reflection of the balancing act that Francis envisioned when he decided to canonize John and John Paul together, showing the unity of the Catholic Church by honoring popes beloved to conservatives and progressives alike.
Francis made that point clear in his homily, praising both men for their work associated with the Second Vatican Council, the groundbreaking meetings that brought the 2,000-year-old institution into modern times. John convened the council while John Paul helped ensure its more conservative implementation and interpretation.
“John XXIII and John Paul II cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the church in keeping with her pristine features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries,” Francis said.
He praised John for having allowed himself to be led by God to call the council, and he hailed John Paul II’s focus on the family — an issue Francis has taken up himself.
“They were priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century,” Francis said. “They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them.”
It was Benedict who put John Paul II on the fast-track for possible sainthood just weeks after he died in 2005, responding to the chants of “Santo Subito!” or “Sainthood Now!” that erupted during his funeral Mass. His canonization is now the fastest in modern times.
Francis then tweaked the Vatican’s own saint-making rules, deciding that John could be made a saint without the necessary second miracle usually required for canonization.
Francis took a deep breath and paused for a moment before reciting the saint-making formula in Latin at the start of the ceremony, as if moved by the history he was about to make in canonizing two popes at once.
He said that after deliberating, consulting and praying for divine assistance “we declare and define that Blessed John XXIII and John Paul II be saints and we enroll them among the saints, decreeing that they are to be venerated as such by the whole church.”
Applause broke out from a crowd that stretched from St. Peter’s to the Tiber River and beyond.
Celebration of joy
In Cebu, hundreds were glued to television sets to witness the solemn rites which was beamed live by both local and international broadcast networks yesterday afternoon.
While the canonization rites was ongoing in the Vatican, residents of barangay Apas in Cebu City heard Mass near the Avida Towers at the Cebu I.T. Park where then pontiff, John Paul II, presided over a Eucharistic celebration 33 years ago.
A candlelight procession was held past 7 p.m. from the Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Pedro Calungsod to the 10-foot image of St. John Paul II inside the Archbishop’s Residence compound in D. Jakosalem Street in Cebu City.
Before heading for Rome, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma told Cebu Daily News it’s but proper to thank the Lord for having given the Church two new saints.
“It is a celebration of joy; a celebration of thanksgiving. This reminds us that God is with us even in the choice of leaders for the Church,” said the 63-year-old prelate who attended the yesterday’s canonization in Rome.
“We have a loving God. He gave us two popes who showed pastoral concern for the whole world. It is in this perspective that we should glorify and praise God for these two great popes,” he added.
Palma said he would have wanted to stay in Cebu, but priests in Rome insisted that he should be present during what was considered a historic event.
“The priests told me ‘Unsa man ka ‘Nyor? This is an event of the lifetime. It’s not everyday that two popes are canonized by two popes. Their point was John Paul II and John XXIII would be canonized. And two popes—Francis and Benedict XVI—would be there. How beautiful it is,” he said.
Archbishop emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, however, opted to stay in Cebu and watch the televised canonization rites in his retirement house at the Sto. Niño Village in Banilad, Cebu City.
He was supposed to attend the canonization rites but had to cancel because he could no longer walk and join the long processional at the start of the canonization.
Vidal said John Paul II and John XXIII have practiced the same virtues which people should emulate.
“What stood out is their fidelity. At least one thing we noticed in their lives is their response and personal dedication to the call of the Lord; the way they opened themselves to the people and how they related to the people,” the cardinal said.
“They were able to translate God’s gift in themselves. And they were also able to translate their offices to the service of the Church and the people,” he added.
The 83-year-old prelate said Cebuanos are very privileged to have been visited by St. John Paul II in 1981.
“He’s the first pope to visit Cebu. We are very fortunate that the pope who became a saint entered our territory and stayed here for one night. He left so many things for us to remember,” Vidal said.
And how did John Paul spent the night at the Archbishop’s Residence?
“Almost midnight, the person in-charge of the chapel at the Archbishop’s Residence went inside and almost stepped on him because the Holy Father was lying on the floor with arms outstretched. He always prays before facing the people,” Vidal narrated.
Msgr. Ildebrando Leyson, who met the Holy Father several times as a student in Rome and when he was working for the sainthood of Pedro Calungsod, said the canonization of the two popes should lead one to follow their examples and aspire for holiness.
“We have to become saints. I look forward to the day when images representing each of us will be placed on the carrozas for the procession. That is not a joke. That’s our calling. We’re destined to become saints. If we wouldn’t become saints, then where else are we going?,” he said.
Leyson, who led the candlelight procession before the image of St. John Paul II at the Archbishop’s Residence last night, said each human being has a choice whether to reject the call to holiness or not.
“God gave us freedom. We were not programmed like computers. If we want to become saints, we have to cooperate with God’s grace. And we have Sts. John Paul II and John XXIII to follow so we will also arrive where they are now,” he sad.
Leyson, the rector of the Cebu Archdiocesan Shrine of St. Pedro Calungsod, said the lives of the new saints proved that anyone is capable of walking along the path of holiness.
“They were human beings like us. They were also sinners. But they were also filled with grace by God—the same grace God gives us. If we don’t use this grace, what a waste it would be,” he said.
Miracles Continue
Juliana Panes held back her tears as the procession carrying the relics of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II made its way to a makeshift altar at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City yesterday.
“I believe God will grant my prayers for a better health because the two pope saints are helping me,” the 67-year-old retired teacher told the Inquirer.
A diabetic, Panes was among the thousands of Filipino Catholics who gathered at the historic coliseum to join the Catholic world in celebrating the canonization of Saints John XXIII and John Paul II at Vatican City.
Manila Archbishop Antonio Cardinal Tagle, who officiated a Mass in honor of the two newest saints of the Catholic Church, said the canonization of the two late popes was a reminder that even ordinary people “can be holy.”
“The celebration today is a loud declaration to the world that holiness is real. You are holy and you are ought to be holier still just like the two popes,” Tagle said in his homily.
“It is good to celebrate a canonization to proclaim to the world that holiness is still real. Holiness is a gift from God to all of us, to ordinary men and women as ordinary as John XXIII and Karol Wojtyla,” he said, referring to the Saint John Pope II’s real name.
He said the sainthood of the two former heads of the Catholic Church was more meaningful as it happened during the celebration of the “Divine Mercy Sunday”.
Looking animated, the bishop said even ordinary members of the church were “called by God to be holy”.
“You and me, we are ordinary citizens of the world. But all of us have been given the grace of holiness and we are called to live by that holiness. It is given to all. You can be holy,” Tagle said.
“Believe it or not, the one sitting beside you at this moment can be a saint, even if his or her face looks like that,” he said, eliciting chuckles from the crowd.
“Do not say sanctity is far off. Do not say holiness is just for a few. Do not say holiness is not relevant in our time.”
Tagle turned emotional as he shared his experiences as a naughty high school student who frequently slept in his class.
“Despite all that, I’m now a cardinal- only through the mercy of God,” he said, crying.
“Many of us may just be sleeping and do not know what we should do (in our lives). But God trusts us.”/ with AP and Inquirer