Poor saints for poor Church

A Rome lawyer, Andrea Ambrosi, has made a good living since John Paul II allowed laity to become postulators for causes of saints in 1983. His successes include Cardinal John Henry Newman’s beatification, and he puts the cost of creating a saint at £132,000-£200,000. John Thavis, in his latest book, The Vatican Prophecies (Viking), writes that Catholic groups in the United States are queuing up for Ambrosi’s services.

But he also reports that the days of expensive saint-making may be numbered. Soon after his election, Pope Francis ordered a review into the cost of documenting the virtues and miracles of candidates and that a fund for “poor saints” be topped up with contributions from wealthier causes. Also, by ruling that no official miracle was needed for the canonisation of Pope John XXIII, he may have set a precedent that widespread popular devotion could suffice to make a saint.