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| How many saints are there? | How many saints are there? |
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| Catholicism has long liked to create saints in job lots – 40 English martyrs of the Reformation jointly canonised in 1970, or 117 Vietnamese martyrs in 1988. But Pope Francis broke new records on Sunday by handing out halos to 813 erstwhile citizens of Otranto, in southern Italy, who refused the demand of their Ottoman conquerors in 1480 to convert to Islam and were therefore beheaded. | Catholicism has long liked to create saints in job lots – 40 English martyrs of the Reformation jointly canonised in 1970, or 117 Vietnamese martyrs in 1988. But Pope Francis broke new records on Sunday by handing out halos to 813 erstwhile citizens of Otranto, in southern Italy, who refused the demand of their Ottoman conquerors in 1480 to convert to Islam and were therefore beheaded. |
| Sainthood, in Catholic terms, is always posthumous. And a 500-plus year gap between death and final recognition isn't that unusual, allowing time for the dust to settle. Or at least that is how it has traditionally been seen, since the Vatican took control of saint-making in the 13th century. | Sainthood, in Catholic terms, is always posthumous. And a 500-plus year gap between death and final recognition isn't that unusual, allowing time for the dust to settle. Or at least that is how it has traditionally been seen, since the Vatican took control of saint-making in the 13th century. |
| For centuries, the company of saints was one of the most exclusive clubs known to humankind. Then along came Pope John Paul II in 1978 and created 483 new saints over the course of his 27-year reign, exceeding the collective tally of all his predecessors over the previous half a millennium. And that industrial scale of production is now continuing under his successors. | For centuries, the company of saints was one of the most exclusive clubs known to humankind. Then along came Pope John Paul II in 1978 and created 483 new saints over the course of his 27-year reign, exceeding the collective tally of all his predecessors over the previous half a millennium. And that industrial scale of production is now continuing under his successors. |
| Why? Because our leaders believe that we Catholics are always in need of more role models, people to inspire us in the faith as we struggle to lead a halfway good life. That's not such bad psychology, especially with so many of our flesh-and-blood leaders shown of late in the abuse scandal to have feet of clay. | Why? Because our leaders believe that we Catholics are always in need of more role models, people to inspire us in the faith as we struggle to lead a halfway good life. That's not such bad psychology, especially with so many of our flesh-and-blood leaders shown of late in the abuse scandal to have feet of clay. |
| Yet the criteria for a halo remain unchanged from medieval times: that the candidate has to be responsible for one miracle from beyond the grave to qualify for beatification, and then a second to be declared a saint. In the case of the Otranto martyrs, number two was the 1981 cure of Sister Francesca Levote from ovarian cancer after her fellow nuns prayed to them. | Yet the criteria for a halo remain unchanged from medieval times: that the candidate has to be responsible for one miracle from beyond the grave to qualify for beatification, and then a second to be declared a saint. In the case of the Otranto martyrs, number two was the 1981 cure of Sister Francesca Levote from ovarian cancer after her fellow nuns prayed to them. |
| Yet the advance of science makes the "proof" offered for such miracles sound ever more spurious. Indeed, one of the doctors who treated Sister Francesca has gone on the record as saying her survival was down to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. | Yet the advance of science makes the "proof" offered for such miracles sound ever more spurious. Indeed, one of the doctors who treated Sister Francesca has gone on the record as saying her survival was down to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. |
| The benchmark for sainthood now seems to be more wish-fulfilment than evidence. And that risks becoming yet another scandal. With 10,000 existing saints – or one per every 100,000 of the 1.2 billion global Catholics – surely we already have our fill. | The benchmark for sainthood now seems to be more wish-fulfilment than evidence. And that risks becoming yet another scandal. With 10,000 existing saints – or one per every 100,000 of the 1.2 billion global Catholics – surely we already have our fill. |
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