Qualifications for sainthood

I must say that I am appalled by the canonisation of Pope John Paul II, not to mention the crowds at the ceremony, and not helped by your equivocal editorial (The Tablet, 26 April). The pigeons are coming home to roost from the many years of misrule by this man who does not represent my idea of being saintly. But perhaps Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor can give us an arcane explanation of the difference between being a saint and being saintly. Here in my parish in south-west France I have seen the congregation drop to half or less in the last two years, and a similar drop in my daughter’s parish in Alsace. Many Catholics now ignore (rightly in my opinion) much of what the hierarchy demands and I wonder if Hans Küng is right that We Can Save the Catholic Church. Maybe we should not.
Tim Gallwey, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France