Pope Beatifies Pius IX

V A T I C A N   C I T Y, Sept. 3 -- Pope John Paul attempted tojustify his beatification of a 19th century conservative popeaccused of anti-Semitism today, saying even saints had humanlimitations and were conditioned by history.

The 80-year-old pope put two of his predecessors and threeother people who lived in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries onthe road to Roman Catholic sainthood at a solemn ceremony beforesome 100,000 people in St Peter’s Square.

The five beatified—the penultimate step before sainthoodin the Catholic Church—were Pope Pius IX (1792-1878), PopeJohn XXIII (1881-1963), Italian bishop Tommaso Reggio(1818-1901), French priest Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade(1761-1850) and Irish abbot Columba Marmion (1858-1923).

While the overwhelming majority of people in the crowd werethere to honor Pope John XXIII, the most controversial of thebeatified five was the ultra-conservative Pius IX.

Long Reign

His reign from 1846 to 1878 was the longest in Churchhistory and coincided with the loss of the papacy’s temporalpower and vast land holdings when Italy was unified.

Pius, who adamantly opposed religious tolerance and definedthe doctrine of infallibility, once referred to Jews as “dogs”and approved the kidnapping of a Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara.

Jews had urged the Vatican not to beatify Pius because ofthe Mortara affair. Progressive Catholics opposed it becausePius centralized power, published the 1864 Syllabus of Errors tocombat modernism and opposed the unification of Italy.

In his homily, the Pope addressed the controversy over PiusIX, saying that holiness was not immune to historical influence.

“Sanctity lives in history and every saint is not removedfrom the limitations and personal conditioning of our humannature,” the Pope, who appeared tired, said.

“By beatifying one of its sons, the Church does notcelebrate particular historical choices he made but ratherpoints him out for imitation and veneration for his virtues andpraising the divine grace that shines in them,” he said.