Sinners and Saints

On Monday, Pope Francis revealed that the Church will canonize two of the most saintly men who served as the Supreme Pontiff during the 20th Century. Pope John XXIII served from 1958 to 1963 and Pope John Paul II served from 1978 to 2005. They will be elevated to sainthood on April 27, 2014.

Following the death of Pius XII, John was elected Pope on October 28, 1958 after 11 ballots. Due to his age, having been born in 1881, he was considered a "caretaker" Pope. He showed himself to be anything but.

Pope John XXIII surprised many by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962 to 1965), the first session opening on October 11, 1962. He did not live to see it to completion, dying on June 3, 1963 of stomach cancer, four-and-a-half years after his election, and two months after the completion of his final and famed encyclical, Pacem in Terris, or Peace on Earth. His views on equality were summed up in his famous statement 'We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike.' 

John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate, one of which was on the day that he announced the Second Vatican Council in the middle of the night to the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square: "Dear children, returning home, you will find children: give your children a caress and say: This is the caress of the Pope!" Sadly, his vision of the council was never fulfilled, as his successor Paul VI, returned the church to its more conservative past, losing the purpose of the council by opening the windows to let out the stale air and to let in the fresh. 

Pope John Paul II was the head of the Church from October 16, 1978 to his death on April 5, 2005. He was the second longest-serving pope in history and the first non-Italian since Pope Adrien VI, who died in 1523.

John Paul II is considered one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century. He is recognized as helping to end Communist rule in his native Poland and eventually all of Europe. John Paul significantly improved the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion, sometimes known as the Church of England or the Reformed Catholic Church.  

Controversially, he upheld the Church's teachings against artificial contraception, celibacy and the ordination of women. He supported the Church's Second Vatican Council and its reform, and he held firm orthodox Catholic stances. He is known for his implementation of several papal documents pertaining to the role of the Church in the modern world.

Understand that these Popes were men, not gods, and as such, made mistakes of judgement and lived with their sins, as we do. But these men were exceptional in their attempts to heal the world of its pain, its angst, while they were alive, and if you accept the faith of an afterlife, did so as well after their deaths. 

We can debate the validation of their elevation to sainthood for years, as we could with any man or woman considered blessed with the grace to be just a bit better than the rest of us. But in actuality, it's not that they are better or holier than you or me; instead, it's because the grace we are all born with, was put to good use by them to try to improve the lot of us all.  

Remember that we are all sinners and saints. And yet, another saintly man will oversee this extraordinary event in the Church's history; we sinners will be its witnesses.