My Take on the News: Saints; Standard-Issue Clueless Journalism; and Saint Michael, Action Figure

I spotted articles about Saints - and a Saint Michael action figure - this week. Also more of the cluelessness that I've come to expect from old-school journalists:

1. Saints, Heroic Virtue, and All That
   • Heroes and Saints
   • Saints, Martyrs, and Heroic Virtue
   • Martyrdom: Doesn't That Just Kill You?
   • More Saints
2. Clueless Journalism - Again
3. Saint Michael - Action Figure
   • The Church Militant: Not That Kind of "Militant"

'Will the Reporter Stop Asking Daft Questions?'

A few decades back, a comedy-adventure cartoon series narrator intoned, in a teaser for the next episode, 'will the reporter stop asking daft questions?' The reporter in that cartoon didn't, which shouldn't have surprised anyone.

Despite a steady stream of astounding gaffes, I think old-school journalists are competent, when stories they cover:

• Involve people and ideas from their own subculture
• Require no background research
• Do not involve 'relevant' issues

I also think that 'news' editors could learn from the sports editor - and start insisting that their religion reporters know a little about religion. Or at least know how - and when - to use Google.

Happily, folks with an Internet connection can read more than what some editor thinks is good for us. Thanks to information technology, I've got access to news outlets run by folks who are not clueless about Christianity and Catholicism.

Like the folks at ZENIT:

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1. Saints, Heroic Virtue, and All That

Looking at a long list of names can be boring, or not. A dedicated New Orleans Saints fan might read and re-read lists of this season's players. I'm not quite so likely to do that, but I spent more time than usual this week, going through articles about another set of Saints:

"Native American, Minister to Hawaii Lepers to Be Declared Saints"
ZENIT (December 20, 2011)

"Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha and Blessed Marianne Cope

"Among the miracles recognized by Benedict XVI on Monday were two gained through the intercession of women tied to North America.

"The first, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, also known as the Lily of the Mohawks, was the first native American to be beatified. John Paul II declared her blessed in 1980. Kateri was born in 1656 of an Algonquin mother and a Mohawk chief in a Mohawk village in upstate New York....

"...When Kateri was 18 years of age, she began receiving instruction in the Catholic faith. It was done in secret as her uncle, who she had lived with since the death of her parents, was opposed to Christianity. Her uncle finally gave his consent for Kateri to become a Christian....

"...Kateri was ridiculed and scorned by villagers for becoming a Catholic and her life was threatened. Almost two years after her baptism she escaped to the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, a settlement of Christian Indians in Canada....

"...The miracle that is enabling Kateri's canonization was the curing of a Native American, Jake Finkbonner, who belongs to the Lummi tribe.

"After a fall in a basketball game in February 2006...

"...Helper of St. Damien

"Blessed Mother Marianne Cope was born on Jan. 23, 1838, in Heppenheim, Germany. Born Barbara Koob, she was the daughter of a farmer, Peter Koob, and Barbara Witzenbacher Koob....

"...She entered the convent of the Sisters of St. Francis at 24 years of age, a month after her father's death and when her siblings were no longer dependent on her....

"...In 1883, by then superior-general of her order, she responded to a plea for help by leaving with six other nuns for Hawaii to help look after lepers. The following year she met Damien de Veuster, famous for his work with lepers on the Hawaiian island of Moloki....

"...The order still continues to care for lepers in Hawaii.

"The subject of that miracle approved on Monday was Sharon Smith, who in 2005 was dying...."

There's a longer excerpt from that ZENIT article, near the end of this post¹ CNA did a pretty good writeup on the North Americans, too:

"Pope approves miracles of Blesseds Marianne Cope and Kateri Tekakwitha"
CNA/EWTN News (December 19, 2011)

"Pope Benedict XVI formally recognized miracles attributed to Bl. Marianne Cope and Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha on Dec. 19, clearing the way for both women to be canonized.

"The two women, who both lived in the United States, were among numerous individuals whose sainthood causes were advanced by decrees authorized by Pope Benedict XVI on Monday.

"Sister Grace Anne Dillenschneider, vice postulator for the Cause for the Diocese of Syracuse, told CNA on Dec. 19 that the date for Bl. Cope's canonization has not yet been confirmed.

"The Congregation for the Causes of Saints had already approved Bl. Cope's second official miracle, which involved the medical recovery of a woman in Syracuse who was cured of a fatal and irreversible health condition. ..."

By the way, Father Damien of Molokai is Saint Damien now, and I've posted about him before:

• "Tuesday, May 10, 2011: Feast Day of St. Damien of Molokai"
  (May 9, 2011)
• "Father Damien? Make that Saint Damien of Molokai"
  (May 11, 2010)
• "Father Damien: Another Hero"
  (April 17, 2009)

Heroes and Saints

"Hero?" Father Damien? Some guy who's a Saint? For the last few generations in America, saying "hero" would likely get someone thinking of Superman, Rambo, or Green Lantern. Or maybe Jackie Robinson. Our 'sports heroes' lately have been more along the lines of Mike Tyson, O. J. Simpson, and the Minnesota Vikings, and that's another topic.

I don't remember having 'heroes' as a child: not in the 'crazed fan' sense, anyway. I've liked fictional heroes, like Superman. And folks who really lived and did something heroic, like Horatio at the bridge and Pliny the Elder, in Western Civilization's history.

Getting back to Saints as heroes, there isn't much that's 'heroic' in some of the notions about saints that I've run into.

Our heroes are folks like Horatio: holding off an army while his comrades dismantle a bridge behind him.

Saints, for some, are mistily 'spiritual' nebbishes with vague smiles and no discernible skills: marketable or otherwise. Then there are those Saints who keep smiling while dying horribly of some loathsome disease: and not doing much of anything else.

Saint Damien of Molokai is almost in that last category - and I've been over that before. Kateri Tekakwitha's partial blindness and scars from smallpox could put her in a starring role for one of those 'littlest cancer patient' tales, too. But there's a whole lot more to her life than being "Tekakwitha," and again - there's a longer excerpt from the ZENIT article near the end of this post.¹

Saints, Martyrs, and Heroic Virtue

Saints get to be Saints (capital "S") by doing something out of the ordinary - something "heroic." Which gets me into pagan beliefs, a bishop of Hippo, and a little history:

"The notion of heroicity is derived from hero, originally a warrior, a demigod; hence it connotes a degree of bravery, fame, and distinction which places a man high above his fellows. St. Augustine first applied the pagan title of hero to the Christian martyrs; since then the custom has prevailed of bestowing it not only on martyrs, but on all confessors whose virtues and good works greatly outdistance those of ordinary good people. Benedict XIV, whose chapters on heroic virtue are classical, thus describes heroicity: 'In order to be heroic a Christian virtue must enable its owner to perform virtuous actions with uncommon promptitude, ease, and pleasure, from supernatural motives and without human reasoning, with self-abnegation and full control over his natural inclinations.' An heroic virtue, then, is a habit of good conduct that has become a second nature, a new motive power stronger than all corresponding inborn inclinations...."
(Heroic Vitrue, Catholic Encyclopedia, via NewAdvent.org (1910))

Martyrdom: Doesn't That Just Kill You?

That's a fairly reliable, quick, easy, and highly unpleasant, way of getting in line for Sainthood: Say "I'm a Christian," knowing that doing so could get you killed. And then get killed because you're a Christian.

There's more to the process: including two miracles and a whole lot of paperwork. I've gathered that there has to be a pretty clear connection between the person's faith and being killed, too. Father James Coyle, for example, would probably have lived a lot longer if he'd hadn't been Catholic: but I haven't heard or read anything about his being investigated as a possible Saint.

More Saints

"7 Advance Closer to Official Sainthood"
ZENIT (December 20, 2011)
"Another Group of Spanish Martyrs Recognized

"Benedict XVI on Monday met with Cardinal Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, and authorized the promulgation of decrees concerning miracles, martyrdom and heroic virtues for a number of causes.

Miracles were recognized for seven who are already beatified, meaning canonization is just a step away, once an ordinary public consistory is held...."

The article's mostly a set of lists. I've pulled the information out, verified part of it in a related Vatican Information Service posting, and may have made it a little easier to read. Then again, maybe not:

• One step closer to canonization:
  • Giovanni Battista Piamarta
    (1841-1913)
    • Italian priest
    • Founder of the
      • Congregation of the Holy Family of Nazareth
      • Congregation of the Humble Sister Servants of the Lord
  • Jacques Berthieu
    (1838-1896)
    • French martyr
    • Priest of the Society of Jesus
  • Maria del Carmen (born Maria Salles y Barangueras)
    (1848-1911)
    • Spanish foundress of the Conceptionist Missionary Sisters of Teaching
  • Marianne Cope (born Barbara)
    (1838-1918)
    • German religious of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Syracuse U.S.A.
  • Kateri Tekakwitha
    (1656-1680)
    • American laywoman
  • Pedro Calungsod
    (1654-1672)
    • Filipino lay catechist and martyr
  • Anna Schaffer
    (1882-1925)
    • German laywoman
• Folks in the "Servants of God" classification, miracles now recognized:
  • Louis Brisson
    (1817-1908)
    • French priest
    • Founder of the Oblates of St. Francis of Sales
  • Luigi Novarese
    (1914-1984)
    • Italian diocesan priest
    • Founder of the Silent Workers of the Cross
  • Maria Luisa (born Gertrude Prosperi)
    (1799-1847)
    • Italian abbess of the convent of the Order of St. Benedict of Trevi
  • Mother St. Louis (born Maria Luisa Elisabeth de Lamoignon, widow of Mole de Champlatreux)
    (1763-1825)
    • French foundress of the Sisters of St. Louis
  • Maria Crescencia (born Maria Angelica Perez)
    (1897-1932)
    • Argentinean professed religious of the Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Orchard
• Martyrs declared
  • Nicolaus Rusca
    (1563-1618)
    • Swiss diocesan priest
    • Killed in hatred of the faith
  • killed in hatred of the faith in Spain in 1936
    • Luis Orencio (born Antonio Sola Garriga) and 18 companions of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools
    • Antonio Mateo Salamero
      • Diocesan priest
    • Jose Gorostazu Labayen
      • Layman
  • Killed in hatred of the faith in Spain between 1936 and 1937
    • Alberto Maria Marco y Aleman and eight companions of the Order of Carmelites of the Ancient Observance
    • Agustin Maria Garcia Tribaldos and 15 companions of the Institute of Brothers of Christian Schools
    • Mariano Alcala Perez and 18 companions of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy
• Heroic virtues declared
  • Donato Giannotti
    (1828-1914)
    • Italian diocesan priest
    • Founder of the Congregation of Sisters Handmaidens of the Immaculate Conception
  • Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus (born Henri Grialou)
    (1894-1967)
    • French professed priest of the Order of Discalced Carmelites
    • Founder of the Institute of Notre-Dame de Vie
  • Alphonse-Marie (born Elisabeth Eppinger)
    (1814-1867)
    • French foundress of the Congregation of Sisters of the Blessed Saviour
  • Marguerite Lucia Szewczyk
    (1828-1905)
    • Polish foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Sorrowful Mother of God - Seraphic Sisters
  • Assunta Marchetti
    (1871-1948)
    • Italian co-foundress of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles
  • Maria Julitta (born Teresa Eleonora Ritz)
    (1882-1966)
    • German professed sister of the Congregation of Sisters of the Redeemer
  • Maria Anna Amico Roxas
    (1883-1947)
    • Italian laywoman and foundress of the Society of St. Ursula

There's more about these Saints, martyrs, and others, in local and regional online publications, including:

• "Vatican today — December 15-17, 2011"
  Vatican Information Service, via TheCatholicSpirit.com (December 19, 2011)

I put a little background about Saints at the end of this post.²

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2. Clueless Journalism - Again

I think the 'news' in this article is that someone's calling an old-school newspaper's bluff. Maybe I've gotten too accustomed to clueless journalists publishing nonsense about Christianity in general, and the Catholic Church in particular:

"KC Star risks credibility with bias against accused priest"
Benjamin Mann, CNA (Catholic News Agency) (December 20, 2011)

"The Kansas City Star stands accused of violating journalistic standards, by presenting a priest as guilty of abuse on the basis of one man's uncorroborated account.

" 'When I first read this, I assumed he'd been convicted, Marquette University Professor Dr. William Thorn told CNA, offering his reaction on Dec. 19 to Judy L. Thomas' recent three-part series about an allegation and lawsuit against 85-year-old Missouri priest Monsignor Thomas O'Brien.

" 'That's how it reads: as a post-conviction story, not as a story about suits that have been filed. It's prejudicial,' said Thorn, a professor of journalism at Marquette's Diederich College of Communications.

"He said Thomas' series of features was 'all focused on the accuser, and designed to generate enormous emotional support for him,' while downplaying the conflicting account offered by others...."

I've been over this sort of thing before:

• "Parish Priest: Loud Accusation, Quiet Exoneration"
  (May 7, 2011)
• "Pedophile Priests! - or - My Mind is Made Up, Don't Confuse Me With the Facts"
  (April 11, 2010)
• "Not Saying the Culturally-Normative Things About Pedophile Priests"
  (April 2, 2010)
• "Cultural Chaos, Divisiveness, and CNN"
  (April 1, 2010)
  • Ever wonder why sane people don't seem to support the Catholic Church?
• "Pedophile Priests, Those Confused Catholics, and the Tolerant Press"
  (April 1, 2010)

Compared to 1930s Spain, and Auschwitz: Not So Bad

The situation in America could be a lot worse. Look at:

• What was happening in Spain during the 1930s
• Maximilian Kolbe
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Other 20th-century martyrs

"20th-century martyrs?"

That might sound odd, to someone who assumes that Christians are all white, upper-middle-class Americans. And/or members of an oppressed minority class: victimized by WASPs. That's a caricature of the post-Woodstock American establishment's world view, of course.

I don't think the 'Christianity is icky' attitude makes sense: but I didn't think the old 'everybody I don't like is a commie' attitude made sense, either.

Folks can have odd notions about reality. Back when I was in my teens, the 'Custer died for your sins' version was crumbling. Make-believe history does that, when facts hit it.

I think we're in for another set of uncomfortable, but long-overdue, reality checks:

• "20th Century Saw 65% of Christian Martyrs, Says Author"
  ZENIT (May 9, 2002)
  "Conclusions of New Study Published in Italy"

I'm not happy about yet one more example of journalistic malfeasance, in the 'social contract' sense: but let's remember that it could be worse. A lot worse.

And I am not going to get sidetracked into English common law, the fourth estate, and hypothetical pre-social states.

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3. Saint Michael - Action Figure

Maybe someone, somewhere, is upset about this. I think what the Kolbe Film School is doing is a great idea.

"Denver school creates action figures of saints for kids"
CNA (Catholic News Agency) (December 19, 2011)

"St. Michael the Archangel is the model for a saint-based action figure, part of a new 'Action Saints' series from the Denver-based Kolbe Film School. The series is intended to engage children in their faith and help them get acquainted with the saints.

"The poseable, four-inch-tall figures 'provide children the ability to put the heroes of our faith in action,' Kolbe Film School said.

" 'St. Michael leads the holy angels, saints, and the Church militant over the evil powers against the Church today -- a true hero for our times.'

"The figures' creators said that figures of saints tend to be 'dangerous and breakable ceramic, metal and glass statues,' not something that children can play with. They contended that these statues convey to children the message 'Do not touch!'..."

That Saint Michael action figure isn't the sort of 'plaster saint' Americans are used to - literally and figuratively. But as something that lets kids 'learn by playing?' I think those action figures are 'educational.' Also a lot of fun.

The Church Militant: Not That Kind of "Militant"

"Church militant?!" That doesn't mean that Catholics are about to start throwing molotov cocktails and threatening to kill hostages if some crazy demand isn't met. The Church militant is me and other Catholics who haven't died yet, and I've been over this before:

• "Bird Songs, a Chain Saw, and the Church Militant"
  (June 28, 2010)

We're involved in a war, but it's not the sort you're likely to see in the headlines:

"For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens."
(Ephesians 6:12)

How the war turns out for me, as an individual, hasn't been finally decided. And won't be, until my particular judgment. Looking at the 'big picture,' though, - "We Won: Quite a While Ago" (January 13, 2011).

Related posts:

• Saints
  • "That's Funny: Another Way of Being Catholic"
    (November 13, 2011)
  • " 'From Sour Saints, Deliver Us' "
    (September 8, 2011)
  • "A 'Saint Brian,' Sort of"
    (May 9, 2011)
  • " 'Blessed,' 'Saint,' and News that Makes Sense"
    (April 18, 2011)
  • "Saints: That's so Medieval"
    (February 14, 2010)
• Bias
  • "Stem Cell Research, Assumptions, and Getting a Grip"
    (November 28, 2011)
  • "My Take on the News: Religion, Politics, and Freedom"
    (October 28, 2011)
  • "Space Aliens, Michele Bachmann, and Daft Assumptions"
    (September 2, 2011)
    Particularly
    • People With Religious Beliefs are Crazy, Stupid, or Both: Right?
  • "New York Archbishop: No More Mr. Nice Guy?"
    (October 23, 2010)
  • "Why I'm With the Holy See on Quran Burning Position"
    (September 8, 2010)
• Journalistic - credibility?!
  • "Return of the Pedophile Priests Rides Again: The Sequel"
    (November 18, 2011)
  • "My Take on the News: Harmony; Religious Freedom; Politics; and Routine"
    (October 21, 2011)
  • "Assumptions, Bible Verses, and a Little Research"
    (July 31, 2011)
    Particularly
    • 'Pastor Bob Bombast' and the Pope: There's a Difference
  • "From 'Former Altar Boy' to 'And a Catholic Priest'"
    (March 31, 2011)
  • " 'Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain:' The Pope in Spain"
    (November 11, 2010)
    Particularly
    • Information Gatekeepers in a Changing World

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¹ A longer excerpt from the ZENIT article on Kateri Tekakwitha and Marianne Cope:

"Native American, Minister to Hawaii Lepers to Be Declared Saints"
ZENIT (December 20, 2011)

"Among the miracles recognized by Benedict XVI on Monday were two gained through the intercession of women tied to North America.

"The first, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, also known as the Lily of the Mohawks, was the first native American to be beatified. John Paul II declared her blessed in 1980. Kateri was born in 1656 of an Algonquin mother and a Mohawk chief in a Mohawk village in upstate New York.

"When she was only four years old her parents and brother died of smallpox. Kateri survived the disease, but it left her face badly scarred and her eyesight impaired. Because of her poor vision, Kateri was named 'Tekakwitha,' which means 'she who bumps into things.'

"When Kateri was 18 years of age, she began receiving instruction in the Catholic faith. It was done in secret as her uncle, who she had lived with since the death of her parents, was opposed to Christianity. Her uncle finally gave his consent for Kateri to become a Christian, provided that she did not try to leave the Mohawk village of Caughnawaga, where she was living at the time.

"Kateri was ridiculed and scorned by villagers for becoming a Catholic and her life was threatened. Almost two years after her baptism she escaped to the Mission of St. Francis Xavier, a settlement of Christian Indians in Canada.

"The village in Canada was also named Caughnawaga (Kahnawake). On Christmas Day 1677, Kateri made her first holy Communion and on the feast of the Annunciation in 1679 made a vow of perpetual virginity. She also offered herself to the Blessed Mother Mary to accept her as a daughter.

"During her time in Canada, Kateri taught prayers to children and worked with the elderly and sick. She would often go to Mass both at dawn and sunset. She was known for her great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and to the cross of Christ....

"...The miracle that is enabling Kateri's canonization was the curing of a Native American, Jake Finkbonner, who belongs to the Lummi tribe.

"After a fall in a basketball game in February 2006, Jake was infected with necrotizing fasciitis, or Strep A. Doctors expected him to die but Father Tim Sauer, a family friend, told his parents, Elsa and Donny Finkbonner, who are Catholics, to pray to Blessed Kateri.

" 'In my heart, in all of us, we've always found that Jake's recovery, his healing and his survival truly was a miracle,' his mother told the local newspaper, the Bellingham Herald. The family lives in Bellingham, in Washington state, where the Lummi tribe is located.

"Helper of St. Damien

"Blessed Mother Marianne Cope was born on Jan. 23, 1838, in Heppenheim, Germany. Born Barbara Koob, she was the daughter of a farmer, Peter Koob, and Barbara Witzenbacher Koob.

"In 1839 the family emigrated to the United States. They became members of St. Joseph's Parish in Utica, New York, where the children attended the parish school....

"...Marianne later wrote that she experienced a calling to religious life at an early age, but she could not follow her vocation for another nine years because of her family obligations. She was the oldest child at home and after reaching eighth grade went to work in a factory to support the family when her father had become an invalid.

"She entered the convent of the Sisters of St. Francis at 24 years of age, a month after her father's death and when her siblings were no longer dependent on her.

"Barbara entered the Sisters of St. Francis in Syracuse, New York and, on Nov. 19, 1862, she was invested at the Church of the Assumption. She became known as Sister Marianne.

"A year later she made her profession as a religious, after which she served as a teacher and principal in several schools in New York State. She also helped during the 1860s in the establishment of two of the first hospitals in the central New York area, St. Elizabeth's in Utica (1866) and St. Joseph's in Syracuse (1869).

"In 1883, by then superior-general of her order, she responded to a plea for help by leaving with six other nuns for Hawaii to help look after lepers. The following year she met Damien de Veuster, famous for his work with lepers on the Hawaiian island of Moloki....

"...The order still continues to care for lepers in Hawaii.

"The subject of that miracle approved on Monday was Sharon Smith, who in 2005 was dying from an untreatable form of pancreatitis."

² Briefly, what a Saint is:

"SAINT: The 'holy one' who leads a life in union with God through the grace of Christ and receives the reward of eternal life. The Church is called the communion of saints, of the holy ones (823, 946; cf. 828). See Canonization."
(Glossary, Catechism of the Catholic Church)

Not-so-briefly, more about saints, canonization, and all that:

"CANONIZATION: The solemn declaration by the Pope that a deceased member of the faithful may be proposed as a model and intercessor to the Christian faithful and venerated as a saint on the basis of the fact that the person lived a life of heroic virtue or remained faithful to God through martyrdom (828; cf. 957)."
(Glossary, Catechism of the Catholic Church)

" 'The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Spirit is hailed as "alone holy," loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God.'²⁸⁹ The Church, then, is 'the holy People of God,'²⁹⁰ and her members are called 'saints.'²⁹¹"
(Catechism, 823)

"By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practiced heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God's grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors.³⁰³ 'The saints have always been the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult moments in the Church's history.'³⁰⁴ Indeed, 'holiness is the hidden source and infallible measure of her apostolic activity and missionary zeal.'³⁰⁵"
(Catechism, 828)

"After confessing 'the holy catholic Church,' the Apostles' Creed adds 'the communion of saints.' In a certain sense this article is a further explanation of the preceding: 'What is the Church if not the assembly of all the saints?'⁴⁷⁹ The communion of saints is the Church."
(Catechism, 946)

"Communion with the saints. 'It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself'⁴⁹⁸:

"We worship Christ as God's Son; we love the martyrs as the Lord's disciples and imitators, and rightly so because of their matchless devotion towards their king and master. May we also be their companions and fellow disciples!⁴⁹⁹"

(Catechism, 957)

More, about Saints and the canonization process:

Reflection of Mons. Felix A. Machado" Mons. Felix A. Machado, Undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, (June, 2000)
• "Angelus, 9 August 2009 - Courtyard of the Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo"
  Benedict XVI (August 9, 2009)
• Congregation for the Causes of Saints, The Roman Curia
  "Profile"
  • "New procedures in the Rite of Beatification"