The purpose of the Church is to make saints

By Zenit

Pope John Paul II canonized more saints during his pontificate (480) than were canonized in the preceding 1,000 years of Church history (450).

Commenting on his predecessor's enthusiasm for making saints, Benedict XVI responded, "There cannot be too many saints."

In the March issue of the journal First Things, writer Philip Zaleski contextualizes the late Pope's understanding of the role of the saints in the life of the Church.

He concludes that the canonizations of John Paul II were a reversal of the "stripping of the altars" -- the invasion of secular ideology into Catholic life -- as well as a marking of the saints as signposts of a new civilization.

Zaleski draws on the insights of Hans Urs von Balthasar's 1954 book "Thérèse of Lisieux: The Story of a Mission."

Balthasar suggests that the purpose of the Church is to make saints. Put another way, the Church works to sanctify each person to fulfill his or her unique individual role in building the kingdom of God. Thus, no two saints are alike.

Zaleski notes that traditional Christian thought understood canonization to have a number of purposes. It glorifies God by whose grace the saints are sanctified, and it honors the saints, reflections of God's glory.

Models

Furthermore, canonization provides models for holiness and gives us some insight into the citizenry of heaven, instructing us to whom we can ask to intercede on our behalf. This last aspect is particularly important as popular devotions and cults have developed around saints with dubious merit.

The recent canonizations, Zaleski argues, have renewed interest in the saints as models of holiness, particularly in places like Malta, whose first native saints were canonized during John Paul II's pontificate.

The enthusiasm for saints is not limited geographically, as Christians such as Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta (not yet canonized) have a global following.

Zaleski highlights the fact that opposition to the sheer number of John Paul II's canonizations usually fell back on criticisms of particular saints. In particular, much criticism came from circles that feared that particular canonizations marked the return of an outmoded, retrograde Catholicism.

But, contrary to these critics, even John Paul II's most controversial saints actually embodied the principles outlined in "Lumen Gentium." Furthermore, according to Zaleski, opposition to saints such as Juan Diego and Josemaría Escrivá may even undercut efforts to enhance the role of the laity in the life of the Church.

The future

In his best-selling book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope," John Paul II alluded to the saints, particularly the 20th-century martyrs, as a "foundation of a new world, a new Europe, and a new civilization."

This echoes the famous axiom that the best apology for the faith is its saints. Zaleski writes: "To canonize is to renew the bond between heaven and earth; every canonization, in a sense, re-consecrates the world.

"We should never underestimate the power of holiness.… Most people cold-shoulder ecclesiastical structures, but they all embrace saints. They love the saints. The saints appeal to everyone, for they show us life as it could and should be."