Vatican observer Andrea Tornielli reported last week that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints has voted to approve a decree testifying to the "heroic virtue" of John Paul II.
When the decree is officially approved by Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul would acquire the title of 'venerable' and would be eligible for beatification as soon as Vatican officials attest to the authenticity of a miracle attributed to his intercession.
There was no official Vatican comment about the statement, although it is reported that the Church is studying several happenings to see whether they could be described as miracles attributable to him.
The other 'wall' of China
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, said he wished that the wall that divided Chinese Catholics from the universal Church also would fall. "It has been 20 years since the Berlin Wall collapsed... it came with a wave of liberation of peoples," Mgr Zen wrote in his personal blog.
He said that today, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association was the wall that divided Chinese Catholics from the universal Church and noted that Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 letter to Chinese Catholics said 'state agencies' exercising control over the church independently of the Vatican is "incompatible with Catholic doctrine".
Cardinal's visit raises new questions
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn's planned visit to Medjugorje next month prompted some to ask whether the Church is changing its attitude regarding the alleged Marian apparitions there.
For a long time, Church authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina have expressed doubts about the reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary.
Supporters of the apparitions said the scheduled visit by Mgr Schönborn was evidence that leading Church authorities did not agree with the local bishops. Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo said he hoped the Vatican would issue a formal statement about "the Medjugorje phenomenon" in the near future.
Bishops on the web
In an effort to understand how the Church can make better use of the internet and its search engines and popular social networking tools, European bishops met with representatives from Facebook, Google, You Tube and Wikipedia.
The meetings came during the plenary assembly of the European Episcopal Commission for Media held at the Vatican. Some 100 delegates attended the meeting dedicated to 'The Internet Culture and Church Communications'.
"The internet is as important as the invention of the printing press," said the president of the bishops' commission for media, Bishop Jean-Michel di Falco Leandri of Gap, France. Just as the printing press helped make the bible available to everyone who could read, the internet can make the Gospel accessible to everyone who uses the internet, he said.
Respect for life as God's gift
Recognising that each human life belongs to God is the only way to promote respect for every person, Pope Benedict XVI said in a speech to bishops from Brazil. Too often today, people see life as "a merely human product" rather than as "a gift of God welcomed in the loving intimacy of the marriage between a man and a woman", the Pope said.
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)