French official defends moves to canonize convicted murder

Published: 2008-03-03

OXFORD, England (CNS) -- A French church official has defended moves to canonize a convicted murderer amid criticism from the media. "The tabloid press has objected that beatifying a murderer would be an insult to society. It's a good illustration of how far the church has traveled from the social mainstream that it's no longer afraid of going against this," said Jean Duchesne, president of the Paris diocesan commission reviewing the life of Jacques Fesch half a century after he was guillotined for shooting a policeman in a bungled robbery. "What matters isn't public opinion, or who might be against it, but the fruits Fesch's example might eventually bear," he told Catholic News Service in late February. "But there've been no formal objections," added Duchesne. "Everything now depends on the popular cult that's slowly but spontaneously developing around Fesch, as well as on attributing miracles to him and identifying the lessons his story teaches." Fesch's sainthood cause was launched in the Archdiocese of Paris under a 1987 decree by the late Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. Duchesne said his commission was close to completing its documentation, including more than 1,000 letters by Fesch, and said the Paris archdiocesan postulator, Father Henri Moreau, hoped to forward the case to the Vatican's Congregation for Saints' Causes in 2009.

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