News Tip: Duke Theologian Available to Comment on Pope Canonizations

The Catholic Church plans to canonize Popes John Paul II and John XXIII. Paul Griffiths Warren Professor of Catholic Theology, Duke Divinity School (312) 282-6155; pgriffit@gmail.com http://divinity.duke.edu/academics/faculty/paul-griffiths Griffiths' areas of interest and topics of publication include post-1950 Catholic philosophical theology and the philosophical and political questions arising from religious diversity. Quote: "Pope Francis' decision to canonize John XXIII and John Paul II together next spring is a decision to recognize the holiness and importance to the Catholic Church of these two men. "The former was responsible for setting the Second Vatican Council in motion, and the latter for revitalizing the church during the Soviet period, and for providing intellectual leadership of a kind not seen in 1,000 years. "The decision is not primarily political, not aimed principally at unifying the so-called progressive and conservative wings of the church. Those who think of it in that way are mistaking the American church with its divisions for the world church."                                         _        _        _        _  Duke experts on a variety of other topics can be found at http://newsoffice.duke.edu/resources-media/faculty-experts.