Canonization Vatican Briefing: The postulators talk about the two Popes
(Vatican Radio) Why are Popes John XXIII and John Paul II saints? That was the
key question being asked at a briefing in the Vatican’s Press Hall on Tuesday that
was attended by the postulators for the two Popes’ sainthood causes. The briefing
kicked off a week of events in the Vatican leading up to Sunday’s canonization of
Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II.
Listen to this report by Susy
Hodges:
Father Giovangiuseppe
Califano, the postulator for John XXIII, said as a 15 year old seminarian Angelo
Roncalli was already making resolutions that were intended to help him become a saint
for real. He said Pope John’s sainthood was characterized by a deep humility and he
was both a shepherd and a father.
Roncalli, he continued, opened new horizons
to the Church by convening the Second Vatican Council and was a capable communicator
who by using simple every-day expressions succeeded in entering immediately into the
hearts of people. Father Califano went on to explain how the words “obedience and
peace” were not just Roncalli’s episcopal motto but were at the root of his sainthood
as they characterized his life at the service of the Church.
The postulator
for Pope John Paul II’s cause, Monsignor Slavomir Oder, spoke at the briefing of how
the friends of Karol Woytyla at university described him as a “future saint” because
they were so struck by his prayer habits and his reflections on the value of life.
He said John Paul’s profound mysticism encouraged him to personally live out the
mystery of God in his own life.
Man of God, Monsignor Oder said, is the
word that truly characterizes a saint and this applies to Woytyla. He was a man who
found the source of his life in God . Prayer for Karol Woytyla was his air, his water
and his daily bread.