Canonizing John XXIII: “In fifty years’ time it will be too late”

Now here’s an interesting passage I came across today while checking for something else in Yves Congar’s Vatican II journals.

In his entry for October 2, 1964, Fr. Congar refers to the suggestion made by several bishops at the Council, including the great Belgian Cardinal Suenens, soon after the death of Pope John XXIII, that he be canonized a saint by popular acclamation — such as was done in the early days of the Church — rather than waiting for the formal process to happen. (A proposal advocating the move was circulated among the bishops at the Council, but Pope Paul VI preferred for the normal process to be followed and paired Pope John’s cause with that of his predecessor Pope Pius XII.)

Congar reports in his journal a car ride he shared with Suenens, in which the topic of the hoped-for canonization of Pope John by popular acclamation came up. He wrote, “He [Suenens] thinks that such a canonisation would find a very great echo in the world. But in fifty years’ time it will be too late.”

Here we are — almost precisely fifty years after Congar wrote those words on Suenens’ thinking – preparing for the canonization of John XXIII this Sunday. Obviously, Congar does not specify what Suenens meant by it being “too late.” But it’s worth surmising, and asking: was Suenens right?