Canonisations vary greatly in their significance. The canonisation of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who devoted her life to the care of the dying, was not just the recognition of a very holy woman, it also highlighted the sanctity of life in a culture of death. Blessed John Henry Newman, who is soon to be canonised, was clearly a very different kind of saint, but his canonisation, like that of St Teresa, is also of great significance.
When Benedict XVI spoke to politicians in Westminster Hall on his 2010 visit to England to beatify Newman, he memorably insisted that “The world of reason and the world of faith need one another, and should not be afraid to enter a profound and ongoing dialogue”. Newman saw very clearly that religious faith is not something peculiar and sui generis but simply one of the many kinds of faith that make up life, ranging from the basic act of getting up and leaving one’s house in the morning to forming relationships with other people.
