Long Road To Sainthood

Mother Katharine Drexel, founder of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament was made a saint this year. So was Polish nun Faustina Kowalska. These women are among those canonized by Pope John Paul II during his 22 years as the Bishop of Rome and leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the religious equivalent of the Guinness Book of World Records John Paul has declared more saints - at last count 447 - than any previous pope.

Why so many?

Declaring new saints is a powerful evangelical tool. As the Church increases its presence in the third world, naming saints - especially from emerging nations - appeals to the newly converted. And, in traditionally Catholic countries, a new saint can reawaken interest in the Church.

But some in the Church feel the process of selecting saints is moving too slowly and is too selective.

Father Peter Gumpel, who is in charge of the Vatican' Office of Saints, says, "The time comes when you have to examine whether all things are necessary."

Chester Gillis of Georgetown University notes that "to be canonized you must lead an exemplary life, inspire faith and, after you die, two miracles must be attributed to you unless you die as a result of your faith as a martyr."

The Church usually looks for miracles in the field of medicine, for example, involving a physical disability: a blind person suddenly seeing or a deaf person hearing, after praying to the proposed saint for help.

But proving a miracle is difficult.

"When it comes to miracles," Gregory Ladd, co-founder of a group advocating sainthood for the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen says, "the Church does not run nd jump on the bandwagon."

With advances in science, technology and medicine many healings that would once have been declared miraculous, can today be explained by natural causes.

And what about miracles that don't involve "medical curing or healing?"

The late Sister Dulce is being promoted as a candidate for sainthood for her work with the poor and homeless in Salvador, Brazil. Her legacy includes founding a 1,000-bed hospital that provides care for the poor, the elderly, mothers with ailing babies and handicapped children.

"The great miracle of Sister Dulce is her work," says her niece Marita Rita Pontes.

"Sister Dulce does not need a miracle. Her work is the miracle. Only a saint could make something like this hospital and see it growing bigger and bigger after her death," adds sainthood advocate Osvaldo Gouveia Ribeiro.

Though the sheer goodness of her work seems miraculous to many, the Church still seeks evidence of supernatural intervention.

"It's a very lengthy and involved process," says Sara Morello, Canonical Adviser to the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C. "There are cases at the congregation [canonical panel] that have been there for hundreds of years and haven't come forward because either there wasn't another miracle or they couldn't find enough information about the person's life."

But Gillis adds, "Pope John Paul has been attempting to make a lot more saints. He understands that people need contemporary models, and he has been a lot more aggressive."

Promoting sainthood can also be a very expensive undertaking. In his 1990 book Making Saints, Newsweek religion writer Kenneth Woodward estimates the average cost of investigating and bringing a saint's case to fruition at $250,000.

So it appears that even the late Mother Teresa, known for her work with the poor and whom many called a saint while still living, will have to wait a while before assuming the title — at least legally.