A Catholic Parish Priest on Beatification of JPII: "The Rush to Make This Man a Saint Is Abhorrent and Arrogant"

John Paul Blesses Maciel

Here's another article that I find re-circulating right now, after Pope Francis has announced his intent to proceed with the canonization of John Paul II: this is from 2011, and is by Kevin Cullen at the Boston Globe. It dates from the time of John Paul's beatification. I'm especially struck by the comments of Father Jim Scahill, a parish priest in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, who was asked whether he intended to preach about the beatification of John Paul in his homily at Sunday Mass:

Scahill's reply to that question:

I think the kindest thing I could do is not mention it. The rush to make this man a saint is abhorrent and arrogant. He did accomplish a lot as pope. But to beatify someone who didn’t protect children is a travesty, a continuation of the coverup that damaged the church so much. The money that is going to be spent on this is a disgrace. And in all their pomp and circumstance, the people who run the Vatican are revictimizing the survivors.