On Sunday Pope Francis decided to canonize two nuns who lived in Palestine for reasons you’ll discover in the Associated Press piece which we will link to. Evidently these women were examples of “mercy, charity and reconciliation” which means they were “good people.” To canonize someone is to make him/her a saint. The article revealed that one of the sisters was not only a good person, she “is said to have received the “stigmata” – bleeding wounds like those that Jesus Christ suffered on the cross.” Since CRN routinely covers Catholic mysticism it came as no surprise that one of the nuns was a mystic — many Catholic clergy engage in mysticism. But what needs to be addressed here is Rome’s belief that their pope’s have the authority to declare people saints. This is untrue, as the Bible is clear that all born again Christians are saints. Following are just three examples:
Acts 9:32: “Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.”
Romans 16:15: “Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them.”
1 Corinthians 1:2: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours…”
So as you can see, Scripture clearly teaches that a saint is anyone who has put his/her faith in Jesus Christ.