Strategic canonisation: sanctity, popular culture and the Catholic Church

Abstract

In his 27‐year reign (1978–2005), Pope John Paul II created not only more saints than any other pope in history, but also more saints than all the other popes put together since Pope Urban VIII centralised control of saint‐making in 1634. This article argues that the elevation of ‘celebrity saints’, such as Padre Pio and Mother Theresa, can be seen as an attempt on the part of the Catholic Church to strengthen its presence within the arena of popular culture. Through a sustained programme of ‘strategic canonisation’, John Paul II promoted models of sanctity that conveyed very clear social and political messages. Such messages were amplified through extensive Catholic media and, where ‘celebrity saints’ were involved, through the secular media too. These processes are analysed first, in relation to the general area of sexual politics; and second, to the Church's historic relationship with Nazism. Whilst John Paul's programme may not have achieved all that it intended, it clearly demonstrated the Catholic Church's unique capacity to reinvent very old forms of cultural policy for changing times.

Keywords:

• Roman Catholic Church
• cultural policy
• saints
• popular culture
• celebrities
• religion

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following for their helpful suggestions and thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of this paper: Jeremy Ahearne, Eleonora Belfiore, Kate Brennan, Raj Isar, Kevin Mulcahy, Anna Roh, David Thomas and two anonymous reviewers. I would also like to thank all those who commented on earlier drafts of the paper that I presented at the Policy and the Popular Workshop (University of Leeds, June 2009), at the Popular Culture and World Politics Workshop (University of Bristol, July 2009), at the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies (University of Warwick, February 2010) and at the Sixth International Conference on Cultural Policy Research (University of Jyväskylä, August 2010). Special thanks to David Looseley for offering the resulting article a ‘home’.

Notes

1. Although the Roman Catholic Church is the only religious institution to have a formal procedure for the recognition of saints, the saint is a familiar figure in all religions. For example, Buddhism has its arahants, bodisattvas and lamas; Islam its awliyā’ Allāh (close friends of God) and its Sufi masters; Hinduism its gurus (Woodward 1996, pp. 15–16).

2. I use ‘modern’ here to denote the period from the 1960s to the present day.

3. For example, in recently published introductions to cultural studies (Walton 2008), popular culture (Guins and Cruz 2005) and cultural policy studies (Lewis and Miller 2003), references to religion or religious institutions are almost completely absent. A notable exception is the web‐based Journal of Religion and Popular Culture. However, even here, the great majority of published articles focus on the reading of religious themes in secular forms of popular culture rather than the promotion of popular culture by religious institutions.

4. See, for example, McGuigan (2004) and Lewis and Miller (2003).

5. See, for example, Ahearne and Bennett (2009, 2011).

6. The first recorded papal authorisation of a saint took place in 993, when Pope John XV canonised Bishop Udalricus of Augsburg, at the request of the Bishop's successor.

7. These reforms were enshrined in the apostolic constitution, Divinus Perfectionis Magister, promulgated by John Paul II on 25 January 1983 (Holy See, 1983).

8. For example, Kateri Tekakwitha, the seventeenth‐century daughter of a Mohawk warrior and Algonquin woman, was beatified without proof of miracles on 22 June 1980.

9. It is worth noting that John Paul II himself became a celebrity icon. During his pontificate, he was frequently ‘on tour’, making 104 overseas trips and visiting 129 different countries. This exceeded the number of overseas visits made by all previous popes put together. His 1999 CD, Abba Pater, which included prayers and meditations set to a rock backing, became a best‐seller in many Catholic countries.

10. For example, a variety of Padre Pio medallions can be purchased from CHAINZonline, a mail order company specialising in ‘fine religious jewelry’ (see http://www.chainzonline.com/).

11. Another mail order company, Soft Saints Inc., specialises in the supply of ‘Soft and Huggable Dolls of Catholic Saints’ (see http://www.softsaints.com/).

12. Now Tele Padre Pio, the station broadcasts TV as well as radio programmes, and is available world wide via the internet (see http://www.catholic.org/adv/globecastwtv/).

13. See, for example, www.youtube.com/user/vatican#p/search/17/32y6LTMevbo.

14. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes that there is general agreement amongst theologians that the Pope is ‘infallible’ when issuing a decree of canonisation (Beccari 1907).

15. Goretti was the subject of an inflammatory critique, which was widely publicised, in Giordano Bruno Guerri's 1985 book, Poor Assassin, Poor Saint: The True Story of Maria Goretti. The publication of the book coincided with intense public debate that was taking place in Italy at the time over the legalisation of abortion.

16. St Lorenzo Ruiz (1600–1637).

17. The term ‘sanctification’ is used in this article to denote either beatification or canonisation.

18. Woodward refers to the ‘traditional Catholic view that a sexless marriage is superior to a normal one because it represents more perfectly the chaste and wholly spiritual union between Jesus Christ and His Church’ (1996, p. 349). Support for the superiority of celibacy can be found in St Paul, 1 Corinthians 7:1–8.

19. See, for example, Dalin (2005) and Doino (2003).

20. For a particularly thoughtful analysis of this, see Rhonheimer (2003). Rhonheimer is himself a Catholic priest and professor of ethics and political philosophy at Rome's Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.