Tomorrow is the Feast of All Saints, the day the Catholic Church chooses to honor all the saints, even those who have not been officially recognized as such, but have achieved the ideal of communion with God. Saints enrolled in the Roman martyrology are declared by the Catholic Church as undoubtedly present in Heaven and, therefore, may become objects of public worship.
Although the ancient saints were declared as such by the bishops, the procedure over the centuries has been centered in Rome and a millennium, only the Pope can celebrate canonization. The Catholic Church provides for the sanctity of certain people through the process opened by the call Congregation for the Causes of Saints. The process of sanctification has to go through the stages of venerability, beatification and canonization. Although canon law establishes a minimum time between the death of a person and the beginning of his cause of canonization in Rome, the deadlines are very variable. The
role of saints in the church and among believers has changed considerably during the second half of the twentieth century. The worship of them has been used to pay qualifying and their images are used as examples as agents of advocacy, role they played hard for centuries. Pope Benedict XVI says
"The saint is one who is so fascinated by the beauty of God and by his perfect truth that they will gradually transforming it. For this beauty and is willing to renounce everything, even him same. It is enough love of God, experienced and transmitted in the humble and disinterested service to others "
Since the Council Vatican II, the procedures have changed, times have become shorter and the number of post-mortem miracles necessary before it could reach several hundred (depending on the credulity of the times) has been reduced to two.
There are over 10,000 saints and beatified. Under the pontificate of John Paul II, in a period of 25 years, claimed at least 2,000 beatification or canonization, while their predecessors took several centuries to a few hundred statements.
