Praying To/With John Paul the Great

Let’s start with the definition of a key word.

intercede: To plea on someone else’s behalf; To act as a mediator in a dispute; to arbitrate or mediate

With that in mind, let’s look at the top of a fine BBC report focusing on one of the major religion-news stories of the past few days — the acceleration of the Vatican’s process toward Pope John Paul II being officially called a saint. This story has been getting lots of mainstream press attention, but I want to focus on the BBC report because it’s a good one, yet still needs a few more words of content if the goal is to be consistent with what the ancient Christian churches teach about the role of those in the “great cloud of witnesses” who are called saints.