Paging Dr. Faustina

A petition signed by several cardinals and bishops has been tendered to Pope Benedict, requesting that the Polish St. Faustina Kowalska be declared a doctor of the Church.

St. Faustina, the great promoter of the Divine Mercy devotion, would join Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse of Lisieux as the fourth woman to be recognized as a doctor of the Church.  She would become the thirty-fifth saint to earn the distinction.

This is good.  St. Faustina was a favorite (if one can use that term) of John Paul the Great, who inaugurated the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday.  And speaking of Blessed JP2, I don’t know if Faustina would be the first Polish doctor of the Church, but I can venture a guess that she won’t be the last.

On a side note, this recent announcement has prompted several ultra-traditionalist Catholic groups to once again express their disapproval at the idea of women being named doctors of the Church.  Women saints, they argue, should be designated as nurses or, at most, physical therapists of the Church.

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