天主教堂應停止追封聖徒

　　11月9日BBC聽力：上帝教堂應停滯追封聖徒

　　Earlier this week I took a trip to Durham Cathedraland the tomb of St Cuthbert, a great saint of thenorth east, and a much-loved man who wasvariously a hermit, monk and bishop. His simpletomb, illuminated by a few flickering candles, seemeda world away from the hoo-ha in Rome overpublication of a book by investigative journalist Gabriele Nuzzi which details yet more financialscandals in the Vatican.

　　You might have heard on this programme yesterday about the efforts of Pope Francis to cleanup the financial mismanagement of the Vatican and about Nuzzi’s revelations of certain peopleresisting any change.

　　Among the areas the Pope is tackling are the Catholic Church’s saint-making practices. Whilethe Church on the one hand has been diligent in recent years about who it canonizes, this hasled to large fees allegedly being paid to expert witnesses during pre-canonisation enquiries.Even more disturbing are Nuzzi’s claims of huge sums being spent on gifts for prelatesattending canonisations in Rome, and the lack of a proper accounting paper trail.

　　The simplest option might be to pull the plug on the whole saint-making business. After all,being a saint doesn’t depend on canonisation – that’s just the formal recognition of someonewho has led as good a life as possible, despite all their faults and foibles. But what officialrecognition does do is satisfy people’s need for heroes, for people we can look up to, asexamples of those who loved God and others. They encourage people when they struggle tobelieve and are signposts on the journey of discipleship. The saints might include the greatfounders of orders of friars, like Dominic and Francis, but they are also ordinary people like theItalian doctor and mother Gianna Beretta Molla, or someone like Maximilian Kolbe who readilygave up his life in Auschwitz so that someone else might live.

　　Making saints might be a multi-million pound business but it needn’t be. Men and women likeCuthbert used to become saints by public acclamation, honoured by those who treasured theirexample. That might be a way forward if Pope Francis struggles with his clean-up in Rome. Herein Britain we might acclaim Margaret Sinclair. The daughter of an Edinburgh dustman, she leftschool at 14, worked as a French polisher and was a trade union activist before joining aconvent in London’s Notting Hill and dying of tuberculosis at the age of 25. There is nograndeur about her, just a very ordinary life extraordinarily well-lived – an ideal hero for ourtimes.

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　　本周早些時刻，我觀光了杜倫大教堂和聖卡斯伯特墳場，他是東北部一個備受戀慕的巨大的聖徒，他既是一名隱修者，也是一名僧侶，照樣一名牧師。他的墓碑異常簡略，只有幾根搖蕩的燭炬裝潢。在查詢拜訪性消息記者Gabriele Nuzzi編輯的具體表露梵蒂岡財經醜聞的書本出書之際，他的墓碑看上去仿佛是闊別羅馬喧嘩的自力天下。

　　你大概收聽了昨天的節目，懂得了教皇方濟各若何盡力清除梵蒂岡的謀劃不善，和Nuzzi表露的某些人若何抗拒任何轉變。

　　教皇盡力想要處置的一個題目便是上帝教堂制作聖徒的行動。一方面，教堂比年來在追封聖徒方面異常勤懇，這也致使專業監視追封聖徒前的查詢拜訪事情須要大批的用度。更淩亂的是，Nuzzi表露，大批款項被消費在為加入羅馬追封聖徒典禮的高等西席購置禮品上，並且該進程缺少適當的管帳材料追蹤。

　　最簡略的選取大概是停止全部與追封聖徒有關的行業。究竟，作為聖徒不須要追封——這只是正式承認某小我盡量渡過了完善的平生，而無論他全部的毛病和瑕疵。然則官方承認所做的便是知足人們對豪傑的需求，對可以瞻仰的人的需求，作為敬愛天主和別人的榜樣。當人們落空崇奉的時刻，他們勉勵人們，作為信徒們進步路上的路標。聖徒們大概包含巨大的開創人一樣平常的修羽士，好比多米尼克，好比方濟各，然則也包含常人，比快意大利大夫和母親詹納·貝雷塔·莫拉那樣的人，大概像馬西米蘭·科爾比那樣在奧斯威辛樂意就義本身的性命救濟別人的人。

　　追封聖徒大概是代價數百萬英鎊的大買賣，然則沒有需要。Cuthbert那樣的很多男女經由過程"大眾,"的喝采成為聖徒，遭到器重他們的模範感化的人的尊敬。假如教皇方濟各可以或許持續保持在羅馬的清除事情，那末必定會獲得必定的提高。在英國，咱們應當誇獎Margaret Sinclair。她是愛丁堡一名幹凈工的女兒。她14歲就分開黌舍，成為一位法國拋光師，也曾是工會踴躍份子，厥後參加倫敦諾丁山一個女修道會，25歲時因肺結核逝世。她沒有甚麽巨大的地方，只是過好了平常的生存——但她是咱們的時期最幻想的豪傑。