Pope Francis I presided over the first joint canonization of two former popes today in Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope John XXIII brought the Catholic Church into the present era in the early 1960s with the Vatican II Council. The Mass celebrated once in Latin became celebrated in the language of the participating people - nice to hear the liturgy in one’s own language. Vatican II’s changes took the church out from behind a curtain of clericalism and set it in the modern world. The Catholic Social Teaching of the late 1800s felt more integrated in our lives. My kind of leader.

John Paul II brought his Polish conservative views and behaviors to Peter’s chair. He became pals with President Reagan and looked to tighten the liberals’ understanding and interpretation of the church in the modern world. He became a modern hero for Catholic conservatives. He hunted liberals like Archbishop Hunthausen (my preferred Catholic hero), but backed down when he received an avalanche of protest.

Catholicism offers interesting world views, liturgical practices and ways of being in the world. “Catholic” actually means “universal.” As James Joyce once said of the Catholic Church, “Here comes everybody!”  Now, with two more saints.

(Pope Francis delivers his blessing during a solemn canonization ceremony in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, April 27, 2014.)

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