Pope Francis gives church hundreds of new saints

[onehandle]

Source: AP

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday in a packed St. Peter's Square. The "Martyrs of Otranto" were 813 Italians who were slain in the southern Italian city in 1480 for defying demands by Turkish invaders who overran the citadel to renounce Christianity.

Their approval for sainthood was decided upon by Francis' predecessor, Benedict XVI, in a decree read at the ceremony in February where the former pontiff announced his retirement. Shortly after his election in March, Francis called for more dialogue with Islam, and it was unclear how the granting of sainthood to the martyrs would be received. Islam is a sensitive subject for the church, and Benedict stumbled significantly in his relations with Muslims.

The first pontiff from South America also gave Colombia its first saint: a nun who toiled as a teacher and spiritual guide to indigenous people in the 20th century.



He also canonized another Latin American woman. Maria Guadalupe Garcia Zavala, a Mexican who dedicated herself to nursing the sick, helped Catholics avoid persecution during a government crackdown on the faith in the 1920s. Also known as Mother Lupita, she hid the Guadalajara archbishop in an eye clinic for more than a year after fearful local Catholic families refused to shelter him. Francis prayed that the new Mexican saint's intercession could help the nation "eradicate all the violence and insecurity," an apparent reference to years of bloodshed and other crime largely linked to powerful drug trafficking clans.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-francis-gives-church-hundreds-saints-081235504.html

[n2doc]

1. win some lose some:

He drew attention to a signature-gathering drive in many Italian churches to push for a European initiative to "guarantee legal protection for embryos, protecting every human being from the first instant of existence."

[msanthrope]

2. Meet the new boss.....nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. Now a really "transformational" pope....

>>>Pope Francis on Sunday gave the Catholic church new saints, including hundreds of 15th-century martyrs who were beheaded for refusing to convert to Islam, as he led his first canonization ceremony Sunday in a packed St. Peter's Square. The "Martyrs of Otranto" were 813 Italians who were slain in the southern Italian city in 1480 for defying demands by Turkish invaders who overran the citadel to renounce Christianity.>>>

... would have the guts and imagination to canonize some of the many thousands of Jews , Protestants, "heretics", sexual minorities and probably Muslims who were burned, beheaded, put to the sword, hanged over the centuries for refusing to convert to "Christianity."

That's what a "transformational* pope would do. Looks instead like we're going to get another decade or decade and a half of standard-issue, mind-numbing Vatican mediocrity.

[Demeter]

5. That would be a miracle

Not sure, but I think the Age of Miracles is officially over, per the Vatican....

[Spider Jerusalem]

10. That would be heretical and shockingly heterodox

Catholic doctrine: Saints are those whose holiness and exemplary piety are such that they bypass the whole purgatory business and go straight to heaven (thus enabling them to intercede with God on behalf of those on earth who pray for intercession). Catholic doctrine and indeed Christian doctrine is that there is no salvation outside the church and without the sacrament of Christian baptism. No Pope is ever going to do anything like you suggest because to do so would undercut the entire foundation of Christian theology.

[Smarmie Doofus]

11. Faced with the likelihood of extinction...

...from a general loss of interest, I'd say all bets are off in that regard.

>>Catholic doctrine and indeed Christian doctrine is that there is no salvation outside the church and without the sacrament of Christian baptism. No Pope is ever going to do anything like you suggest because to do so would undercut the entire foundation of Christian theology.>>>

[Spider Jerusalem]

14. there are a billion Catholics in the world and around 2.3 billion Christians.

That's not likely to happen anytime soon. "Extinction from general lack of interest"? The number of religious believers in the US, and Europe, may be declining...but collectively North America + Europe account for about one-seventh of the total world population.

[Sgent]

19. Catholic doctorine

does not hold that salvation / heaven is only through the Catholic Church -- especially for Protestants, Muslim's, and Jewish people. This was one of the major policies adopted at Vatican II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumen_Gentium

[onehandle]

16. 'Some say that only Catholics can be saved. This of course is not true. The idea comes from a...'

...misinterpretation of Church documents.One of those documents is “Cantate Domino” written by Pope Eugene IV. It reads in part:

The most Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life eternal; but that they will go into the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless before death they are joined with Her; and that so important is the unity of this ecclesiastical body that only those remaining within this unity can profit by the sacraments of the Church unto salvation, and they alone can receive an eternal recompense for their fasts, their almsgivings, their other works of Christian piety and the duties of a Christian soldier. No one, let his almsgiving be as great as it may, no one, even if he pour out his blood for the Name of Christ, can be saved, unless he remain within the bosom and the unity of the Catholic Church.

Reading a document in context is vital to understanding its meaning. “Cantate Domino” was a document that came out of the Council of Florence. The Council of Florence was called to heal the schism between the Eastern and Western churches. Eugene IV was trying to bring back lost sheep. Twice he speaks of remaining in the Catholic Church. You can only remain in the Catholic Church if you are in her to begin with. When he condemns pagans, Jews, Heretics and Schismatics he is speaking of those who would knowingly abandon the Church established by Christ to join one of these groups. To make a long story short the pope was addressing Catholics who knew better.

But if only the Catholic Church has the complete plan of salvation, how would it be possible for a non-Catholic to get to heaven? Vatican Council II addressed this point in its "Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium)," "Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do His will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation" (no. 16). In short, those who are truly unaware of what God requires of them are not held responsible; rather they are judged by what they did with the truth they had.

http://www.staycatholic.com/salvation_outside_the_church.htm

It's a get out of jail free card for most anyone.

[aristocles]

4. Those are really

...demi-gods.

Catholicism is mostly the old Roman religion wrapped in new clothes by the Hellenistic apostle Paul.

[MNBrewer]

6. How thoughtful. Just in time for Mother's Day.

[YOHABLO]

7. Mom's turning 80 this year .. and quite the Saint ... at times! She raised us all to be >>

good Catholics .. I don't know what happened. I guess Francis is stepping it up a notch.

[dogknob]

8. Reminds me of a sitcom on its way out...

Did they make Ted McGinley a saint?

[freshwest]

9. 813 people beheaded? FPS! The mind reels. What a miserable era.

[Pterodactyl]

12. Awesome news!

[Pterodactyl]

13. Some background from Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martyrs_of_Otranto

When Gedik Ahmed asked the defenders to surrender, they refused, and so the Ottoman artillery resumed the bombardment. On 11 August, after a 15-day siege, Gedik Ahmed ordered the final assault, which broke through the defences and captured the citadel. In the massacre which followed, all men over 15 years old were killed and all the women and children were enslaved. According to some historical accounts, a total of 12,000 were killed and 5,000 enslaved, including victims from the territories of the Salentine peninsula around the city.[2]

Some survivors and the city's clergy took refuge in the cathedral to pray with their elderly archbishop Stefano Pendinelli. Gedik Ahmed ordered them to convert to Islam, but received a flat refusal and so broke into the cathedral with his men and killed all those inside. This included Pendinelli, who encouraged the survivors to turn to God at the point of death but was skewered and cut to pieces with scimitars before having his head cut off, put on a pike and carried round the city. Gedik Ahmed then turned the cathedral into a stable and sawed the garrison commander Francesco Largo to pieces whilst still alive.


Castle of Otranto
The townsfolk's leader was now the old tailor Antonio Pezzulla, known as Il Primaldo, who also refused to convert to Islam. On 14 August Gedik Ahmed tied up the survivors and transported them to the nearby colle della Minerva, where at least 800 were beheaded, with their parents and families forced to assist in and attend the executions.

Those canonized were victims of some serious crimes.

[Tom Ripley]

15. Lighten up, Francis

someone was gonna say it

[Franker65]

17. That's a lot of saints

Instead of wasting their time on this stuff, they should really be attempting to improve their image by tacking their problems and modernising. They are looking towards the past while society is moving on and leaving them behind.

[Stuckinthebush]

18. Eh

If they want to make saints let them make saints. It doesn't affect anyone else and is really just a ceremonial thing for their leader.

But, lets see what happens with the big issues of our time and how this organization responds to them. I'm interested to see if this new administration will turn an otherwise anachronistic organization toward the future or past.