Addressing superiors and delegates from Discalced Carmelite monasteries in Rome, the pontiff stressed the need for adaptation to modern times.

"Defensive strategies are the fruit of a nostalgic return to the past; this does not work, nostalgia does not work" Francis said at a gathering on April 18.

Instead, Francis urged the Discalced Carmelites to adopt a "Gospel hope" that "makes us capable of looking to the future with those roots we have received."

"That is called preserving the charism (with) the thrill of moving forward, and that does work" he said.

He told the attendees this "Gospel hope" aligns with society's evolving needs. At the same time, he encouraged preserving the essence of their charism.

Like a light with flies

The pope highlighted the importance of maintaining the Order's mission while exploring innovative ways to promote contemplative life. He encouraged members to seek "new languages, new paths and new instruments" to invigorate their commitment to contemplation.

"When a Carmelite works well, he or she attracts, isn't that right?" he asked. "It is like a light with flies."

Amid discussions about revising the order's constitutions last approved by St John Paul II in the early 1990s, Pope Francis emphasised the need to nurture the fire of their charism rather than merely safeguarding tradition. He underlined the role of contemplative life as a dynamic force that enriches both the Church and the world.

While acknowledging the challenge of balancing separation from the world with engagement in daily life, the pope affirmed that contemplation should not lead to spiritual detachment but rather deepen one's connection to daily responsibilities.

Drawing from the teachings of St Teresa of Ávila, he emphasised the transformative nature of mystical union with God in the midst of ordinary activities.

The pope's message extends beyond monasteries, underscoring the universal relevance of adapting religious structures to contemporary realities. His call for a forward-looking approach resonates with the broader imperative for religious institutions to remain relevant and impactful in a rapidly changing world.

Sources

America Magazine

It may sound like a strange question, given that he was canonized in 2014. But it is one that some people are asking after a Polish television broadcast an investigative report that criticized the late pope for his alleged mishandling of clergy sex abuse cases from 1964-1978 when he was archbishop of Krakow.

Is this enough to call into question John Paul's holiness?

Perhaps we should distinguish between the levels.

After having long denied the importance of sexual abuse in the Church, the Polish bishops are just beginning to take into account the extent of this phenomenon and its systemic character.

We must therefore wait for real judicial, ecclesial and historical work to be carried out.

That Cardinal Karol Wojtyla minimized the seriousness of the events and sent criminal priests from parish to parish in the 1970s is symptomatic of his generation, subject to other elements that might be discovered.

Can a pope be a saint?

In reality, to be a saint does not mean to be perfect or without defects.

Religious history has amply demonstrated this...

But the question remains whether the Polish pope should have been canonized so quickly, without respecting the normal waiting period. And that is for other reasons beyond the way he ran the archdiocese of Krakow.

The question is whether popes should be canonised.

At the very least, the Church should move with caution.

To declare that someone who managed and became the incarnate reality of the Holy See is a saint, necessarily mixes politics - and even ideology - with holiness.

Over the past century, it has become a "fashion" to canonise popes.

Before that, the phenomenon was relatively rare.

Deciding whether or not to canonise a dead pope is always a matter of politics that is linked to his living successor.

Thus, when Pope Francis canonized Paul VI in 2018, he did so to reinforce the message of Vatican II.

Of course, the Church canonizes a person, not a pontificate. And John Paul II was a remarkable personality. But it is still difficult to separate the two, and there are pressure groups in the Vatican that seek to capitalise on the beatification/canonization of this or that pope for reasons that are more political than spiritual.

Manipulation of the sainthood process

More broadly, the trend towards papal canonisations is a sign of both the papacy's increased power since the end of the 19th century, and a more recent lack of confidence in the strength of Catholicism.

The rush to canonise popes is all the more paradoxical since saints were originally proclaimed by popular devotion. And the Vatican has even imposed strict protocols (such as diocesan inquiries, waiting periods, the proof of miracles..) to avoid a manipulation of the sainthood process.

Today, we should probably also look at Catholicism's tradition of declaring saints, but not in order to suppress it.

Having saints is a beautiful heritage of popular Christianity, a way to help the "people" feel more connected to an institution that is sometimes too distant by incarnating it in a form of human proximity.

One is not a saint by what he or she does, but by the qualities of faith that person has manifested.

However, if there is a connection between sexual abuse and holiness, this is undoubtedly where it lies: the crisis we are going through reveals in an acute way the danger of wanting to create "superheroes" in Catholicism according to a faulty understanding of holiness.

We desperately seek out"pastors" and blindly follow "founding fathers", at the risk of losing all critical thinking.

The resulting infantilization has undoubtedly been one of the causes of the phenomena of control that we have discovered in recent years.

So, saints, yes... as long as we remember that this is what we are all called to be!

• Isabelle de Gaulmyn is a senior editor at La Croix and a former Vatican correspondent.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.

Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki of Poznan said most bishops worldwide also ignored the proposal.

He said: "The title of Doctor of the Church is reserved for saints who performed a special service, especially in the development of theology.

"The idea of patrons for all Europe is quite a new one, dating from the twentieth century when the founders of Europe's contemporary order looked for ways of integrating our continent's nations and states. Although the first stage of our initiative has been completed, and the appropriate seeds sown in the ground, it seems we'll now need a lot of patience."

Read More

Plenary Councils are rare, with only two held during the past 130 years or so - one in the Philippines and the other in Poland.

Lay-people's opinions have been sought regarding the topics to be debated at the Council and they will be able to vote on the Council's recommendations.

A focus question: "What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?" triggered a wave of responses among Australian Catholics and some of the church's senior clerics, Lana Turvey-Collins, facilitator for Plenary Council 2020, says.

When the 10-month "listening and dialogue" process finished earlier this month, the meeting's organisers had more than 20,000 submissions from over 75,000 Australian Catholics.

The Council was announced in 2017, during the five-year Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

Some of the inquiry's findings related to the Church's administration and the formation of clergy. They included a recommendation that the seal of confession be removed for abuse cases.

Although the notion of a plenary council meeting was mooted at the Royal Commission, it had been on the horizon for some time, Turvey-Collins says.

"Around the start of the new millennium, the Australian bishops started discussing the possibility of some sort of national gathering."

She says initially the bishops were aiming to take up the challenge St. John Paul II issued in his apostolic letter 'Novo Millennio Ineunte.'"

The letter said the new millennium was the perfect opportunity for every church, nationally and on a diocesan level, to reflect on the faith and determine what pastoral actions to take in order to make Christ known and loved in today's world.

Jack de Groot, CEO of St Vincent de Paul in New South Wales and chairman of the Implementation Advisory Group to Australian bishops and religious on sex abuse, says the plenary council needs lay people's votes.

[It's] "only going to have credibility if laypeople get to vote on its recommendation - and that they have at least half the vote.

"There are still some bishops who have a default setting to the way things were, and that needs to change," he says.

"There are five million baptised Catholics in Australia and 800,000 kids in Catholic schools around the country; they need to be given permission to speak, and they need to get some power with this voice."

Turvey-Collins says final numbers of people attending the council are yet to be determined, but it is expected there will be approximately 300 delegates.

Source

• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Jesuits Australia

Navarro-Valls is said to have been a legend in the Vatican - for his keen professional abilities and insight into the Pope's mind, and his genuine kindness and deep spiritual life. Read more

The fact that a Protestant was the first person to use it is a source of quiet amusement for the man who constructed it.

Upholsterer Colin Loach tells how he put the very large chair in front of his elderly neighbour's door.

"He wandered out with his leg in plaster and a smoke in his mouth and in his pyjamas, of course and said, 'What the bloody hell's that?' I said to him, 'It's the Pope's throne'."

"And that was when he collapsed in the chair, had his photo taken and declared himself the world's first Presbyterian Pope!"

For security reasons, Loach worked on the chair in secret, not even telling his children what he was doing.

Before completing it, he slipped something special inside.

For many years Loach had been a tram driver at both Ferrymead Heritage Park.

On the back of a photo of a Christchurch tram he wrote his and Joe O'Neill's details, identifying them as the chair's makers.

"And I stuffed it in among the springs. I must say I was quietly amused to see him there [the Pope, at Lancaster Park] in all his glory."

"Little did he know he was sitting on a picture of a Christchurch tram!"

O'Neill, a cabinetmaker, made the frame of the chair. Sisters from the Carmelite Monastery of Christ the King embroidered the Pope's Coat of Arms onto a piece of cream velvet.

After being rescued from the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament the chair has been stored along with other items from the Cathedral in six securely locked shipping containers near the ruined building.

This is a digest of a story produced by Justin Gregory and used archival audio from Nga Taonga Sound and Vision. You can subscribe or listen to every Eyewitness podcast on iTunes or at radionz.co.nz/series.

Image: radionz.co.nz

Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who died in 1919 are now "Saint Jacinta and Saint Francisco". (The third "child", their cousin Lucia, died in 2005.)

Thousands of pilgrims lined Francis's route and tossed petals as his motorcade drove past. Up to a million visitors were expected.

Francis told the people of Portugal that he regarded his visit to Fátima as a pilgrimage of "hope and peace" where he would "present himself to Mary".

He asked for their support in this, saying "I need to feel you close, physically and spiritually, so that we are one heart and one mind".

He also said he hoped Catholics would continue to take notice of the message of peace the children reported 100 years ago

Last Saturday 13 May was the 100th anniversary of the first of our Lady's appearances to Saint Jacinta, Saint Francisco and their cousin Lucia. She was to appear five more times in the following months.

They said she revealed to them three secrets.

Later Lucia wrote these messages down. They foreshadowed the Second World War, hell, the rise and fall of communism and the death of a pope.

Our Lady also urged the children to pray for peace and turn away from sin.

Pope St John Paul II credited Our Lady with saving his life when an assassination attempt was made on him on 13 May 1981.

Source

• The Guardian
• Vatican Radio
• BBC News
• Image: CTV News

The Nobel citation says he is honored "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

Commentators say he deserves to share the stage with "a charismatic pope who understood the power of the arts to stir people's souls."

Dylan, 75, was born as Robert Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota, and raised in a Jewish family.

In the 1960s, his ballads became anthems for the anti-war and civil rights movements.

In the late 1970s until part of the 1980s, Dylan became a born-again Christian.

His songs in that period include "They Killed Him," a lament about the murders of Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Jesus.

His ballads seek to prick consciences on of the folly of war, environmental destruction, and the isolation of the poor.

Human dignity is a recurring theme

Comments made about his work note Dylan's songs have been inspired by different cultures, faith traditions and periods of history.

Others mention his spiritual nature, saying he's: "... a spiritual seeker, and that's an incredibly important part of his art."

"He acknowledges in everything he does, the sacredness of life, and our obligations to each other."

Some of Dylan's songs in the 1960s had titles with religious allusions, including "Gates of Eden," and "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine."

The 1964 song "With God On Our Side," fiercely scorns the way wars have been rationalized throughout history by harnessing divine approval.

Dylan is said these not days not to follow any organized religion.

His 1997 song, "Trying to Get to Heaven" includes the lyrics: "I've been all around the world, boys, and I'm tryin' to get to heaven before they close the door."

Source

• Crux
• Image: ChurchPOP

Media reports had stated Archbishop Juliusz Paetz, formerly of Poznan, saw no reason he could not participate in commemorations of the foundation of Christianity in Poland.

The commemorations, from April 14-16, will be attended by Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

The Vatican wrote to Archbishop Paetz warning him off the celebrations.

"The Holy Father decisively reiterates his invitation for you to live a life of privacy in repentance and prayer," stated Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's Warsaw-based nuncio.

"Media news about your participation in official celebrations of the anniversary of Poland's baptism has created a new situation of unnecessary and harmful commotion for the church in Poland and the Holy See. It blatantly contradicts the instructions given you."

The Polish bishops' conference press office said the archbishop had been warned by the Vatican in 2013 to "refrain from participating in public celebrations".

The office added that it was "hard to imagine" he would again ignore the order during Pope Francis's July 27-31 visit to Poland for World Youth Day in Krakow.

St John Paul II accepted Paetz's resignation in 2002 after the archbishop was accused of repeatedly abusing seminarians.

However, the archbishop continued living at the Poznan curia and participating in Church events, including the consecration of bishops, as well as attending papal audiences in Rome.

In 2006, he was shown on Polish TV greeting Pope Benedict XVI during the now-retired pope's visit.

In 2009, a telegram from the Pope was published at Paetz's request in a Catholic weekly, congratulating him on his "fruitful service" and "saving work for the good of the church".

Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, confirmed in 2010 that the archbishop's "rehabilitation was without foundation".

Fr Lombardi said that removing a 2002 ban on administering sacraments in his former diocese would depend on Poznan's current archbishop, Stanislaw Gadecki, who is also president of the Polish bishops' conference.

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

The Secret Letters of Pope John Paul II was due to be aired on Monday on the BBC's Panorama programme.

Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, a Polish-born American philosopher, worked on a translation of one of John Paul's books.

The project is said to have sparked a four-year personal correspondence and speculation that the two may have fallen in love.

But a Vatican official said it is known that John Paul was friendly with Tymieniecka and with another Polish woman, Wanda Poltawska, with whom he consulted.

A source described the documentary's content as being "more smoke than fire".

The BBC programme was not expected to allege that either woman had a physical relationship with John Paul II.

Continue reading

In a December 7 rescript, Francis allowed the Roman Rota to grant an annulment even if the grounds for doing so weren't the ones originally specified in the case under review.

Before 1994, the Rota was able to grant the annulment directly on such new grounds.

St John Paul II, however, required the Rota to assess only the grounds specified in the case.

This meant the person seeking the annulment potentially had to start the process again.

Observers said John Paul's decision reflected a desire in the 1980s and 1990s to tighten up the annulment process.

Continue reading

During a press conference on board his flight back to Rome from the US, Francis said St John Paul II had decided "that cannot be done".

"Pope St John Paul II - after long, long discussions, long reflections - said it clearly," Francis said.

"Not because women do not have the capacity," the Pope said.

Francis pointed to the feminine nature of the Church and to the role of Mary as being more important that those of popes, bishops and priests.

According to a National Catholic Reporter article, Francis's answer on the papal plane is the latest in a series of controversial and sometimes unclear remarks he has made about the role of women in the Church.

The Pope has previously said that the door to ordination for women was "closed" and has spoken of needing to develop a special theology of women.

He has also said he has stayed away from appointing women to high-level positions in the Vatican bureaucracy for fear of promoting some sort of "functionalism" of women's roles.

On the plane, Pope Francis was also asked about his decision to streamline the process for declaring the nullity of marriages.

He insisted the change was strictly juridical and not doctrinal.

It is not "Catholic divorce", he said.

The annulment process needed reform because with appeals "there were processes that lasted 10-15 years".

Francis's return to Rome came only a few days out from the start of the synod on the family.

The question of finding some sort of process or "penitential path" to readmit to the sacraments Catholics who have remarried without an annulment is something still on the synod's agenda, he said on the plane.

"It seems a bit simplistic to me to say they can receive Communion", but it is an issue that needs further discussion, he said.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• National Catholic Reporter
• Catholic Herald
• Full text of Pope Francis's session with media on papal plane
• Image: Catholic News Agency

This was reported by Avvenire, a newspaper owned by the Italian episcopal conference.

The paper noted that there are 200 consecrated widows in Italy and that another 100 are in formation.

Consecrated widowhood was noted by St John Paul II in a 1996 apostolic exhortation on consecrated life.

Continue reading

Trying to awaken the conscience of the world to reject the "culture of death" which creates "structures of sin," Pope St. John Paul II wrote in Evangelium Vitae, "How can we fail to consider the violence against life done to millions of human beings, especially children, who are forced into poverty, malnutrition and hunger because of an unjust distribution of resources between peoples and between social classes?

"And what of the violence inherent not only in wars as such but in the scandalous arms trade, which spawns the many armed conflicts which stain our world with blood?

"What of the spreading of death caused by reckless tampering with the world's ecological balance, by the criminal spread of drugs, or by the promotion of certain kinds of sexual activity which, besides being morally unacceptable, also involve grave risks to life?"

John Paul continued, "We shall concentrate particular attention on another category of attacks, affecting life in its earliest and in its final stages … Abortion and euthanasia are thus crimes which no human law can claim to legitimize. There is no obligation in conscience to obey such laws; instead there is a grave and clear obligation to oppose them by conscientious objection."

Then St. John Paul tackled the death penalty. He said due to improvements in the penal system, the need to execute a dangerous criminal in order to defend society was not necessary. "Such cases are very rare, if not practically non-existent," he wrote.

Many Catholics, as well as many other Christians, hold inconsistent opinions regarding the protection of life.

Some condemn abortion, but fail to oppose the mass murder of war - which mostly kills innocent people. Others work to protect the environment while promoting the murder of unborn children through abortion as a distorted means to control population.

But all life issues are morally and logically linked. It's what the Catholic Church refers to as the "consistent ethic of life."

St. John Paul explains: "Where life is involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good. We need then to ‘show care' for all life and for the life of everyone. …

"As disciples of Jesus, we are called to become neighbors to everyone (see Lk 10:29-37), and to show special favor to those who are poorest, most alone and most in need. In helping the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigner, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned - as well as the child in the womb and the old person who is suffering or near death - we have the opportunity to serve Jesus."

Quoting St. John Chrysostom, St. John Paul wrote, " ‘Do you wish to honor the body of Christ? Do not neglect it when you find it naked. Do not do it homage here in the church with silk fabrics only to neglect it outside where it suffers cold and nakedness.'

"What is urgently called for is a general mobilization of consciences and a united ethical effort to activate a great campaign in support of life. … The purpose of the Gospel, in fact, is to transform humanity from within and to make it new."

• Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated social justice and peace columnist.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx told the French Jesuit journal Etudes that he finds this "concept" to be problematic.

The term "new evangelisation" was referred to by St John Paul II in Redemptoris Missio (33).

Its application is in places where large numbers of baptised Christians have drifted away from living the faith or no longer consider themselves to be members of the Church.

Cardinal Marx said the new evangelisation "could be mistaken for a model for a spiritual reconquest", as if the aim was to regain lost ground.

"It is not, however, about restoring or repeating what existed in the past, but rather, a new start, a new approach, a new situation," he said.

"In many discussions on the new evangelisation, I get the impression a lot of people think that most of Christianity's history is behind us and what lies ahead is an uncertain and distressing future.

"That is not the way to evangelise."

The cardinal said the issue is not about "a simple communication problem".

"This would mean that if we had more people, more financial resources and a stronger mass media presence, we could reach our goal."

But Cardinal Marx said he might well be able to accept the "new evangelisation" concept if it is accompanied by Church renewal.

He said there needs to be "an emphasis on the fact that we, not just Europe but we as a whole, are in a new situation with regards to the faith and we thus need to renew our way of thinking".

"In actual fact this is the process followed by the entire history of the Church," he said.

"We ourselves, as Church need to read the Gospel again and understand it, then live it," he noted.

For this reason, "it is not religious entrepreneurs that we need, but witnesses and testimonies".

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Redemptoris Missio
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

Rev. Paisley died in Belfast on September 12, aged 88. He had a history of heart ailments.

He served as First Minister of Northern Ireland for a year when power was first devolved from London in 2007.

His deputy, Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin, expressed sadness at the news of his death.

"Over a number of decades we were political opponents and held very different views on many, many issues, but the one thing we were absolutely united on was the principle that our people were better able to govern themselves than any British government," he said.

For many years, Rev. Paisley's incendiary rhetoric stoked anti-Catholic violence.

Michael Kelly, editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper, tweeted that Rev. Paisley "fanned the flames of hatred and murder".

But Mr Kelly expressed sorrow for the Paisley family.

Rev. Paisley rose to prominence in the 1960s at the start of "the Troubles", in which Northern Ireland was engulfed in sectarian violence between Catholics and Protestants.

He led Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, but it was said that he was as helpful to Catholic constituents as to Protestants.

He served in Britain's House of Commons for three decades and was elected to the European Parliament in 1979.

It was in the European Parliament in 1988, during an address by St John Paul II, that he held up a sign saying "Anti-Christ" and started shouting "I renounce you" before being forcibly removed.

He is also infamous for saying of Catholics in 1969: "They breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin."

He said he considered all Catholics to be members of the Irish Republican Army, which he branded as a collective of terrorists.

In 2010, Rev. Paisley led protests against the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Britain.

But his rhetoric wasn't always directed against Catholics. In 1985, he labelled Margaret Thatcher a "wicked, treacherous and lying woman".

For decades, Rev. Paisley had rejected any form of political compromise with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority.

But, during the Troubles, Rev. Paisley began visiting Dublin to probe various political possibilities for the future.

He became Northern Ireland's co-leader in 2007 after entering an agreement with Sinn Féin, the political arm of the IRA.

Sources

• Catholic Herald
• The Guardian
• Washington Post
• Image: BBC

These two popes' personal narratives are inseparable from the Holocaust, and their reactions to the systematic genocide of the Jews played a critical role in the revolution in Catholic-Jewish relations during the last half century.

The annihilation of 6 million Jews — one-third of world Jewry — and Eastern Europe's towering Jewish civilization was an unparalleled tragedy enabled by nearly 2,000 years of Christian demonization of Jews and Judaism.

Too often, too many stood by as Jews were slaughtered like animals during World War II.

Like many Jews of my generation, it is both a national and personal horror.

My father's aunt and first cousins were murdered by the Nazis in the forest outside Bialystok, their hometown in Poland.

But if telling the Holocaust story ends there, it has not been fully told.

We also have a responsibility to tell the story of the many who risked their lives to save Jews.

Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial and museum, has identified more than 25,000 non-Jews who are called "Righteous Among the Nations."

Additionally, we should recognize the collective self-reflection of the churches in admitting Christian complicity and demonstrating a commitment to creating a world where the lessons of the Holocaust have been learned. Continue reading.

Rabbi Noam E. Marans is director of interreligious and intergroup relations for the American Jewish Committee.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

Image: Your Observer

I spoke with a small fraction of the massive crowd that filled the streets near the Vatican, but every one of them agreed: Two popes, two saints, two more reasons to be happy.

Much of the commentariat - and I include myself in that class — has found issues to explore in this double canonization: the fast-tracking of John Paul II, the waiving of the second miracle for John XXIII, the politics of saintmaking and the ongoing tensions over the Second Vatican Council.

I've maintained that the double canonisation is a unifying move by Pope Francis, an attempt to build a bridge between constituencies in the church who identify with the "liberal" John XXIII or the more "conservative" John Paul II.

I still believe that's true. But among those in today's crowd, and probably throughout the global Catholic population, that kind of analysis was not all that relevant.

"The were both good people, holy men. John XXIII was a man of vision. John Paul II was a man of action. But they had the same intention - to bring the church closer to the people," said Rosemary Fabregas, a Catholic from San Francisco who sat in front of a Jumbrotron screen outside St Peter's Square.

An Italian pilgrim, asked about the saints' differences, put it this way:

"Differences? I don't know. The important thing is that they were both very spiritual and they both loved the poor." Continue reading.

John Thavis is a journalist, author and speaker specialising in Vatican and religious affairs.

Source: John Thavis

Image: Salt&Light/YouTube

Mora will be on hand at Sunday's historic ceremony in St Peter's Square as Pope Francis canonizes both John Paul and Pope John XXIII, the Italian pontiff known as "Good Pope John."

The Costa Rican mother of four faced the world's media to explain how her inexplicable recovery was a miracle that had led to the popular Polish pope being declared a saint.

Two miracles have been attributed to John Paul's intercession with God, paving the way for his sainthood.

In 2011, Mora was suffering from persistent headaches and was told by doctors that her days were numbered. They said her aneurism was in a "delicate" area and her only option was treatment in Mexico or Cuba, but her family could not afford it.

"The doctors told me there was no sense to continue treatment because they had done everything and there was not much more we could do," Mora told a packed media conference.

"They said I only had one month to live and there was no hope."

Confined to bed, she lay holding a magazine with a cover photograph of the Polish pope in her home in Tres Rios de Cartago, 12 miles from the capital of San Jose.

Her husband, Edwin, urged her to pray. Continue reading.

Source: RNS

Image: La Nación

The Pope said this during his homily at a canonisation Mass at St Peter's Square on April 27 before an estimated 500,000 people.

A few minutes earlier, he had formally declared both popes to be saints of the Catholic Church.

"John XXIII and John Paul cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her original features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries," Pope Francis said.

He called them men of courage and mercy.

Pope Francis said he liked to think of St John as "the pope of openness to the Spirit".

And the current Pontiff characterised St John Paul II as the "pope of the family".

Pope Francis said he was sure St John Paul was guiding the Church on its path to two upcoming synods of bishops on the family, to be held at the Vatican this October and in October, 2015.

Mercy was a major theme in Pope Francis's homily, which was delivered on Divine Mercy Sunday.

He has often pointed to the need for mercy in Church teaching on marriage and the family.

Among the concelebrants as the canonisation Mass were Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, 150 cardinals and 700 bishops.

Commentators have said that in canonising both popes together, Pope Francis is urging Catholics to look beyond liberal and conservative divisions to join together in following the Gospel.

Jesuit commentator Fr Thomas Reese wrote that making a former pope a saint is a way of strengthening his legacy.

This makes it more difficult for future popes to change policies the saint put in place.

"By canonising them together, Pope Francis is saying that all Catholics should be able to come together to celebrate the lives of these holy men," Fr Reese wrote.

Since these two are so different, it does not canonise so-called liberal or conservative models of being pope, the Jesuit wrote.

"So it leaves Pope Francis free to follow his own path."

Sources

• Catholic News Service
• Catholic Herald
• Reuters
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: Vatican.va