Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II are being canonized today. I don't remember Pope John XXIII when he was alive, but I remember people talking about him after he died, and I remember reading about him in an issue of Life or Look at my grandparents' house. He convened Vatican II, saying the church needed to "open the windows...and let in some fresh air.". Among the results of the council were mass in the vernacular, the presider facing the congregation during mass, involvement of the laity during mass and in many operations of the church and countless other changes. Some paleo-Catholics still find the results of the council controversial. I think he saved the church.
In 1987, my wife and I participated in the mass at Candlestick Park which was celebrated by Pope John Paul II. I remember the part he played in the fall of the Communist Party in Poland. He carried on bravely through his long illness. Some people feel he did not do enough about the sexual and monetary scandals that wracked the church.
A commentator recently mentioned that both men were from the television age, and both had outgoing personalities. I think it would not hurt if we went back to the rule that a person had to be dead for 50 years before we could open a case for sainthood.
Pope John XXIII was Time Magazine's Man of the Year in the 04-January-1963 edition.
