In this age of space travel and other astonishing technological advance, it's very difficult to understand the anachronism that is the Roman Catholic Church.
It seems that the present Pope, Benedict XVI, is about to 'Beatify' his immediate predecessor, John Paul II, paving the way for John Paul to eventually be declared a saint. Apparently, John Paul II has been credited with the miraculous curing of a nun who, reportedly, had Parkinson's disease. If another miracle can be attributed to the late Pontiff, he will then qualify for promotion to full sainthood.
What sort of nonsense is this ? If the nun in question did, indeed, have Parkinson's disease, her apparent cure may have been the result of a natural remission or even a consequence of normal medical treatment; occasionally, people do benefit from entirely unexplained recovery from illness. There has to be a possibility that the nun didn't actually have Parkinson's disease at all, so there has been no cure.
Nonetheless, the RC Church is happy that John Paul has answered various prayers and cured this woman, miraculously and from beyond the grave. They don't release the evidence for this determination, it's all a matter of blind faith for the faithful. John Paul II may have been a good man, though anyone who rises to such a height in any worldwide organisation is likely to have at least a few skeletons in his cupboard. What is certain is that he did not cure anyone.
The issue for the Church is that this man was Pope for a very long time, he was the first non-Italian Pope for centuries and he survived an assassination attempt; the Church feels the need to recognise all of this in some way. "Forget what, if anything, he did to modernise the Church or to improve the lot of the millions of Roman Catholics who live in dire poverty all over the world, at least partly because of Church teachings, and let's concentrate on celebrity", seems to be the message.
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