by Bill Briggs, Huffington Post, excerpted
Critics of (John Paul’s) sainthood … are simply asking is: did he, as pope, offer a blueprint that we, as humans, should be following?…..
As I reported my book, The Third Miracle, the Indiana nun who spearheaded the campaign for the most recently sainted American explained to me why she feels it is still relevant for the Church to legitimize saints.
“We all need someone to look up to and imitate,” said Sister Marie Kevin Tighe, a member of the Sisters of Providence convent near Terre Haute. “One reason we’re alive is to become holy. It doesn’t mean we’re trying to be little gods. God showed us an example of what it’s like to be human — and to be like God — by sending Jesus to Earth. It doesn’t mean we’re trying to be little gods.”
And however you come down on the key questions of what John Paul knew and what he allowed to take place during his papacy, there’s no stopping the big party in Rome.