Editorial: When the saints go marching in
Does the Church need so many saints?
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Heaven must be getting crowded, to judge by the number of saints that the Catholic Church has proclaimed lately.
Canonisation, once a solemn, slow process that could take decades, now proceeds apace and by batch.
Yesterday, Pope Francis elevated several hundred more people to sainthood, including a whole crowd from Otranto most of whose names are no longer remembered but who resisted the Ottomans in the 15th century.
Does the Church need so many saints? The line of recent Popes is that the old list was too full of Italian men and needed bulking out with women, married men and people from Latin America and the like.
The Church needs to keep up with the times. But there may also be something to the traditionalist charge that the multiplication of saints is akin to an inflationary process – and inflation, as we know, devalues the currency.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments