Word: pius
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...quest to beatify a conservative Pope, the Roman Catholic Church keeps stubbing its toe on potential "saints" who lived under a dark cloud of racism--first Pius XII and now badly flawed Pius IX [RELIGION, Sept. 4]. Doesn't it seem ridiculous that grown men are digging up dead bodies and making new godlings? At the start of the 21st century, one might hope the church would come to grips with important issues, perhaps even re-examine its opposition to birth control, abortion and divorce. Those three matters alone would alleviate a great deal of suffering. If Pius...
...happy to know that Pope Pius IX stood up against modernity. Read today's newspaper and tell me we are better off shedding the faith of the past for the license of the present. You can't. The media find it preferable to take potshots at a dead Pope. VINCE PHELAN Norwalk, Conn...
...canonization of Pope Pius IX goes against the feelings of most people. We associate sanctity with heroines like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, not aristocrats at the top of the Catholic hierarchy who lived in golden palaces as kings. GIORGIO DI PRIMIO Bologna, Italy...
...some also think his narrowness crippled his church. Pius reigned just as the old order in the West was giving way to new notions of God, the state and the citizen. His response--a wholesale rejection of modernity--dominated Catholicism for almost a century after his death and continues to color its present. A true reactionary who saw the secular state, and indeed civil rights, as satanic manifestations, he made it difficult for generations of believers to claim intellectual independence or integrity. Says journalist-historian Garry Wills, who savages Pius in his best seller Papal Sins: "He was a disaster...
...Vatican has long been aware of Pius' explosiveness as a candidate for canonization. As Kenneth Woodward reports in his book Making Saints, the first time Pius' cause was formally addressed, every firsthand witness criticized his papacy's conduct. His beatification was repeatedly postponed, most recently in the 1980s, when churchmen apparently deemed it not to be "opportune." That seems to have changed. It will be interesting to see whether the upcoming ceremony will end the debate or spark an even more thorough public airing of this larger-than-life Pope's remarkable career...