WINDING up the discussions on Chapter 7. Cardinal Suenens said that canonisation. which establishes officially recognised examples of sanctity in the Church, should be for all categories, all nations and for all social classes.
He pointed out that since the eighth century. when the present methods of canonisation began, b5 per cent of all those canonised came from religious congregations. Thirteen European nations between them accounted for 90 per cent of all canonisations.
He said the canonisation procedures were too slow and that canonisation lost its effectiveness if it were delayed for 50 or 80 years after the person was dead.
The procedure was too burdensome and too expensive. And in the case of laymen there was no organisation to promote the cause or pay the bill.
He proposed that applications should be left to national conferences of bishops working through a special commission. The beati would be in the calendar for particular countries and canonisation should be appropriate only for those who were internationally famous and should be reserved for the Pope,