Holy moly, we truly do live in The Age of the Awesome and The Season of the Superlative

 

 The murky legacy of America’s first televangelist ‘saint’ 

... Just 62 saints were crowned in the 150 years before Sheen’s case was put forward, his own diocese stated in 2002.

But sweeping changes to saint-making rules have seen a flurry of halos handed out in recent decades. In 1983, Pope John Paul II reduced the mandatory waiting period before a sainthood bid could be opened from 50 years after a person’s death to just five. It allowed the Polish pope, who died in 2005, to beatify and canonise more people than all his predecessors combined.

Pope Francis, who died in 2025, went even further – authorising 912 saints during his 12 years as pope. He made 800 saints in one fell swoop in 2013 by canonising the “Martyrs of Otranto”, a town of 15th-century Italians who were massacred by Ottoman invaders.

Each of the past three popes has personally canonised more saints than all other popes combined. ...