Sainthood For Pope? Not So Fast

In the days following the death of Pope John Paul II, talk began to emerge of canonizing the late pontiff.

And at his funeral Friday, chants of "Santos, Santos, Santos" went up from the crowd – calls for making John Paul a saint.

But the Archbishop of Chicago, Francis Cardinal George, who attended the funeral, told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Friday, "It was spontaneous in one way and another way not. As soon as the homily was over, up go those big signs all over the place, 'Make him a saint now,' 'Santo subito.'"

And while that may turn out to be a good idea in the long run, George says it's probably premature to be thinking along those lines.

"The church has processes for good reasons," he notes. "And the process can't start before five years, normally. Now, there could be an exception. But my own inclination would be to stick with the process.

"Processes are there to protect us usually, as we know. But we'll see. A lot of cardinals, I think, would probably be of that (slow) mind as well."

Whoever replaces John Paul as the spiritual leader of over 1 billion Catholics worldwide will face many daunting challenges, experts agree, from low church attendance to the priest sex abuse scandal, and more.

The Rev. Paul Robichaud, a CBS News consultant and American rector of a church in Rome, who was also at the funeral, told The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm those issues will be in focus at the secret conclave of cardinals to pick a new pope.

"In Europe," Robichaud says, "the low attendance in churches throughout European cities is a big issue, and how to re-evangelize Europe is a significant issue. So I think the cardinals will be looking at that issue.

"For the United States, the sexual abuse crisis has changed the nature of the influence that the American bishops have had in American society and made many people much more skeptical of hearing the bishops speak. So, again, this is another issue that the next pope will have to face.

"There are a variety of issues, I think."

But, Storm notes, issues such as poverty, AIDS, and oppression will draw the cardinals' attention to Third World matters as well.

Indeed, observes Robichaud, "It's very, very likely that the next pope may very well come from the Third World. I think it's going to either be a European or perhaps a Latin American. And there are a number of candidates who are being talked about in Rome, as we prepare for the conclave."

Asked by Storm whether we're likely to see the questions of married priests or women priests addressed, Robichaud said he doesn't expect "a great deal of initial change in the church with the election of the new pope."

Instead, he says, John Paul's successor will no doubt concentrate on "taking on the responsibilities and the mantle that John Paul II leaves behind as he leaves us in the world."