With the Holy See shortly set to announce the canonization of Pope Paul VI, this two-part series  explores the phenomenon of recent popes being canonized.

Some popes who have made their mark on history, like Leo XIII, the pope of Rerumnovarum, Benedict XV, the pope of the Great War, or Pius XI, who denounced totalitarianism, are not the subject of any beatification process. There is indeed a slightly different situation with the popes of the Second Vatican Council and the post-Council. By the end of this, the canonization of John XXIII had been sought by the Council Fathers, who even wanted to do this by acclamation.

John Paul II, of course, had been the subject of a “popular canonization,” from the moment his death — recall the slogan “Santo subito.”

As for Paul VI, he would still have been keen to canonize John XXIII, who initiated the Council, and not the one who was its “great helmsman,” to use Pope Francis’ term.

And even if the canonization of these three popes occurred in quick succession, a long process was involved in each case before they were declared saints.

The decision whether to canonize a pope is always a question of ecclesial policy, related to the current pontificate.

In the current case, I believe that the canonization of Paul VI marks, on the part of Pope Francis, a desire to revive a message, which is always based on a certain reading of the pontificate.

Of course, we canonize a person, not a pontificate. And all the popes that we are talking about here were also remarkable personalities. But it is still difficult to separate the two. As such, it can be said that the canonization of a pope is probably not quite comparable to that of a simple Christian.