Celestine Bohlen in his commentary published in Bloomberg says “it’s hard to see the urgency or the necessity” of proceeding toward the canonization of Pius XII, the church’s controversial World War II-era pope. His commentary follows.

It’s not at all clear that the world needs another Roman Catholic saint, let alone another canonized Catholic pope. By one count, there are already more than 10,000 saints and “beati” or blessed, accumulated since Roman times, with at least three saints already assigned for every day of the year.

That’s just one good reason why Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to proceed toward the canonization of Pius XII, the church’s controversial World War II-era pope, was so surprising. Another two miracles to his name, and Pius will have cleared all the hurdles to sainthood, where he will be among the ranks of such beloved figures as Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Joan of Arc.

It’s hard to see the urgency or the necessity of an act that was sure to anger and upset large groups of people — most significantly, Jews who worry that Benedict has again delivered a setback to the difficult and delicate task of reconciling Catholicism and Judaism.

There may be explanations for Pius XII’s studied silence about the Holocaust in the early 1940s: it is true that public criticism might have put more innocent people in danger, and it is also true that the Pope, like many Catholics, took risks to protect Jews. The question of Pius’ wartime record remains open, and will stay that way as long as the relevant archives are closed.

Benedict himself had previously asked Vatican officials to hold off any decision on Pius until the opening of the 1939-1958 archives, now slated for 2014. This approach was endorsed by Jewish leaders, who are now left expressing puzzlement and dismay over Benedict’s decision to jump the gun and issue a decree proclaiming Pius’ “heroic virtues,” setting the stage first for beatification, and then canonization.

So what was the rush? The answer is politics — which does not make for an edifying religious spectacle. The common perception, disputed by the Vatican, is that by pairing Pius XII with John Paul II in the Dec. 20 decree, Benedict had hoped to satisfy both the conservative and the liberal wings of the Catholic Church.

Let’s just leave aside the fact that there isn’t much of a public constituency clamoring for a Saint Pius XII (Pius IX is beatified and Pius I, V and X are already saints), as there is for a Saint John Paul II, a charismatic pope who played a key role in the collapse of Communism. At his funeral in 2005, crowds called for a quick beatification, with chants of “Beato subito.”

In contrast, Pius XII — born Eugenio Pacelli, scion of Rome’s so-called black nobility, which has staffed the church’s upper ranks for centuries — was a lifelong Vatican bureaucrat- turned-diplomat, with a dour, ascetic manner.

No Mother Theresa

This isn’t Mother Teresa, the Albanian-born nun who spent her life caring for the poor of Calcutta and was beatified in 2002, or even Father Jerzy Popieluszko, the Polish priest who was beaten to death by the communist secret police in 1984 and who this month was put on the path to sainthood, together with Pius XII and John Paul II.

Many experts think that Benedict is trying to reconcile the church with its own history, with teachings that prevailed before the Second Vatican Council, the historical gathering of church leaders convened by Pope John XXIII in the 1960s. That was when the Roman Catholic Church entered the modern age, adopting such principles as separation of church and state, freedom of religion, a more modern liturgy and a repudiation of anti-Semitism.

Of the 265 popes in history, 76 are already saints: six are blessed. Perhaps now is the time to declare a halt to the practice, for liberals like John Paul II and John XXIII, as well as for conservatives like Pius XII. As Father Reese aptly noted, popes cannot be examples for ordinary Christians: Popes can only be examples for other popes.

After President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, a lot of people argued that heads of states should not be nominated for that kind of award until after they have left office. Maybe in the case of popes, sitting on the throne of St. Peter should be honor enough.

Full commentary: World War Pope Sainthood Like Obama’s Nobel: Celestine Bohlen (Bloomburg/BusinessWeek)

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