Pope to bless religious figures

2004-10-01 11:51

Vatican City - Pope John Paul II will beatify historical religious figures, former Austrian emperor, Charles I, and a German mystic who inspired Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ.

The pope will also confer the status of blessed, the penultimate step to full sainthood, on two Frenchmen and an Italian nun in an open-air ceremony in St Peter's Square expected to be attended by tens of thousands of pilgrims.

About 700 descendants of the Habsburg family, including Charles I's four sons of the 10 children are also expected.

Pride of place will go to a 91-year-old Otto von Habsburg, his eldest son, a former European Parliament deputy.

Belgium's Queen Fabiola will lead European royal families attending the ceremony, including the Spanish, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

Descendant family of the French monk Joseph-Marie Cassant, French missionary Pierre Vigne and Italian nun Maria Ludovica De Angelis will also be crowded.

Charles I of the Habsburg dynasty, succeeded Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914 following the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, which historians say was the torch that lit the First World War.

Charles I is also known as the King of Hungary.

According to his biography published by the Vatican, he was committed to peace and was the only political leader to support Pope Benedict XV peace efforts.

The plans to beatify him has caused controversy in Austria, where Charles I is remembered for authorising the use of mustard gas during World War 1, and where critics believe his elevation was politically driven by the conservative right.

The former German mystic Anna Katharina Emmerick, was born into a farming community, who became famous for bearing the stigmata, the wounds to hands and feet suffered by Christ during crucifixion, after being confined to bed with a long illness.

She is branded as a selfless worker in her biography, which says "she was always willing to take on hard work and loathsome tasks".

Clemens Brentano admired Emmerick, he visited her sick bed to record her visions. He published a book after her death entitled The Painful Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ which inspired the actor and director Mel Gibson to make his controversial film.

Cistercian monk Joseph-Marie Cassant, who died in 1903 aged 25, is a notably more banal figure.

The Vatican even paid tribute to the sheer ordinariness of his life, which included nine years of monastic enclosure spent in doing the simplest of things: prayer, studies and work.

The 18th century French priest Pierre Vigne was known as a missionary who travelled Central France administering to the poor, founding schools and seminaries.

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier is expected to lead his country's delegation at the beatification ceremony.

The only woman being beatified is Italian nun Maria Ludovica De Angelis.

- AFP