VATICAN CITY
Sunday Times (Sri Lanka)
VATICAN CITY, April 22, 2014 (AFP) – A much-loved pope will be declared a saint on Sunday but not everyone in the Catholic Church agrees.
John Paul II also alienated many left-wing Catholics and has been blamed for hushing up child sex crimes.
“Not all the people of God agree about canonisation,” the International Movement We Are Church said in a statement ahead of the canonisation ceremony in St Peter’s for John Paul II and his Italian predecessor John XXIII.
The group accused the late pope of “spiritual authoritarianism” and of putting too much emphasis on “hierarchical control” — two traits it said left little room for victims and investigations of abuses.
“Pope John Paul II was a pope of great contradiction. His tragedy lies in the discrepancy between his commitment to reform and dialogue in the world and his return to authoritarianism,” it said.
The pontiff credited with helping to bring down Communism in Eastern Europe was accused of backing right-wing dictators in Latin America including Augusto Pinochet in Chile during the Cold War.
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