"A Chilly Reception"

"Pope Francis is set to arrive Wednesday [July 27, 2016] in Poland, but the homeland of Saint Pope John Paul II...is not rolling out the red carpet for the pontiff whose social agenda has alienated many in the conservative nation. ...'The Pope, an inconvenient guest,' was the headline on an article earlier this month in Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland’s largest circulation newspaper. ...Polish bishops circulated a letter publicizing the event that was read in churches throughout the nation on July 3. The letter praised the late Pope John Paul II three times, yet made no mention of Pope Francis." [1]  Ouch!

Perhaps a double "ouch" is in order since it was this pope who canonized JP2 as a saint.  Although there seems to be no record of any saint having been officially de-canonized, some, like St. Christopher, had been removed from the liturgical calendar. [2]

Perhaps there ought to be a first de-canonization of a saint, and JP2, in this blogger's opinion, ought to be a candidate for consideration because the supposed "miracles" attributed to his sainthood are, in this blogger's opinion, suspect.  There is no conclusive evidence that the diagnosis of each of the affliction was accurate and if accurate, that the healing of each affliction was permanent, because the two individuals claiming they had been healed are supposedly still living, one of whom is a nun.  Writing for the guardian  on March 5, 2010, reporter John Hooper stated that "according to the Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita, one of the doctors charged with scrutinising the nun's case believed she might have been suffering from a similar nervous disease, not Parkinson's, which could go into sudden remission. A report on the paper's website went further, saying that the 49-year-old nun had become sick again with the same illness." [3]

Being kind to guests is a gracious thing to do, especially one as powerful as the pope, who supposedly has the ability to de-canonize a saint if subsequent events confirm that one or more of the miracles that was relied upon for the saint's canonization could no longer be deemed miraculous. [4]


[1] http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/07/26/on-eve-pope-francis-visit-to-poland-country-refuses-red-carpet-treatment.html
[2] http://www.catholic.com/quickquestions/is-st-christopher-still-a-saint
[3] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/mar/05/nun-cured-pope-parkinsons-ill
[4] To keep persons with dubious intercessory powers as canonized saints is to perpetrate fraud against all faithful Catholics and to insult all the true saints in Heaven by lumping them together with the fakes as one every time the Apostle's Creed is said, quoted in part: "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting." [Emphasis added.]  See https://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/creed2.htm  Is there a true saint anywhere who would enjoy being associated with a false saint whose halo and title of "Saint" had been tainted by politics, conspiracy and deceit?