Vatican Official Rejects Comparisons of Pius IX, John XXIII

VATICAN, Aug. 31 (CWNews.com) - Although Popes Pius IX and John XXIII will be beatified on the same day, September 3, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints cautions that the two pontiffs «must not be compared, and still less should they be set in opposition.»

Archbishop Jose Saraiva Martins told the Roman news agency I Media that each of the two former popes «responded in his own way, to the situation in which he found himself, and the necessities of the Church at that time.»

Archbishop Martins revealed that there was no special plan involved in the decision to beatify the two former popes on the same day. «It was really a coincidence of circumstances and dates that led to the common ceremony,» he said. But he also pointed out that the coincidence did provide an occasion for recalling how highly Pope John XXIII had esteemed Pope Pius IX.

The two former popes «had different attitudes, and used different language regarding the Church, to the point that it is easy to set them in opposition,» the archbishop conceded. Pope Pius IX is generally seen as a «conservative» pontiff, while Pope John XXIII is remembered as the champion of change in Vatican II. However, Archbishop Martins emphasized the enormous differences between the situations the two pontiffs faced. Each was responding to the needs of his time, he repeated.

Archbishop Martins observed that both Popes Pius IX and John XXIII were known by their associates for their profound interior life. The current view that Pope Pius IX was cold and rigorous is quite wrong, he said; Pius IX «was actually known for his great good will. He was a sympathetic, spontaneous man, with a great degree of sincerity.»

In a separate interview with I Media agency, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray also suggested that the popular conception of Pope John XXIII is inaccurate. The head of the Vatican's Jubilee committee characterized «good Pope John» as «a very ascetic man-- a man of prayer and penance.» Although today many observers recall John XXIII as a sort of «bon vivant,» the cardinal said, in practice he was «a many of tremendous piety, who loved to say that prayer was the way his soul breathed.»

Catholic World News Service - Vatican Update