Pope praises non-canonized saints of the Church

Vatican City, Apr 13, 2011 / 09:27 am

Pope Benedict XVI offered those gathered in St. Peter's Square a reflection on the “simple,” less well-known saints, as he brought his two-year stretch of teachings on the Church's saints to a close.

“In my life of faith, there are many saints, but not all of the guides on my path are great saints,” the Pope told the thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the April 13 general audience.

It’s estimated there are over 10,000 “canonized” Catholic saints – men and women who the Church declares to be in Heaven. But what of all those who are also in Heaven and have never been formally canonized? Well, it’s to such individuals that Pope Benedict turned his thoughts today.

“I look also to ‘simple’ saints, those good people I see in my life who will never be canonized, who are normal people, so to speak, without visible heroism, but in whose everyday goodness I see the truth of faith.”

Today’s address was the final installment in a series of meditations on the lives of the saints that the Pope delivered nearly every Wednesday for the past two years. Beneath the warmth of the noontide Roman sun, he urged all those present to seek holiness, describing it as “the fullness of Christian life, a life in Christ.”

Pope Benedict reminded his audience that, “(w)e are all called to saintliness: it is the very measure of Christian life." Achieving holiness, he concluded, requires opening ourselves "to the action of the Holy Spirit" so that we can become part of "the great mosaic of sainthood that God creates throughout history."