Francis clears John Paul II, John XXII to become saints
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Friday cleared two of the 20th century’s most influential popes to become saints, approving a miracle needed to canonize Pope John Paul II and waiving Vatican rules to honor Pope John XXIII.
In a major demonstration of his papal authority, Francis decided that John XXIII could be declared a saint even though the Vatican hasn’t confirmed a second miracle attributed to his intercession. The Vatican said Francis had the power to dispense with such requirements and proceed with only one confirmed miracle to his name.
The ceremony is expected before the end of the year. The date of Dec. 8 has been floated as one possibility, given it’s the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a major feast day for the church.
In San Jose, Costa Rica, a woman whose brain aneurysm reportedly disappeared after she prayed to John Paul II broke down in tears Friday as she publicly spoke for the first time about the churchconfirmed miracle underlying John Paul’s case for sainthood.
With tears in her eyes, Floribeth Mora, 50, described how she was sent home with pain medicine but no apparent hope for treatment, thinking she was going to die after her 2011 aneurysm diagnosis.
She says a photograph of the pope seemed to speak to her during the deceased pontiff’s beatification, and her doctor says the aneurysm disappeared for no apparent reason.
Francis’ decision to canonize John Paul and John XXIII is no surprise. The Jesuit was made a cardinal by John Paul and is very much a pope of the Second Vatican Council, the ground-breaking church meetings that brought the Catholic Church into the modern world. John XXIII opened Vatican II a year before his death in 1963.
“Two different popes, very important to the church, will be announced saint together. It’s a beautiful gesture,” said Rev. Jozef Kloch, spokesman for Poland’s Catholic bishops, who like most Poles was overjoyed by the news.