Pope canonizes antiabortion icon.

ON SUNDAY MAY 16, POPE John Paul II named six new saints, including Italian pediatrician Gianna Beretta Molla. In 1962, Molla died just one week after giving birth to her fourth child. She was 39. Doctors had informed her of the dangers of proceeding with the pregnancy because she had a large uterine tumor and recommended that she obtain an abortion to save her life. Dr. Molla declined this medical advice and insisted on continuing the pregnancy to term.

Speaking about the implications of canonizing Dr. Molla, Frances Kissling, president of CFFC, said, "The pope's choices for canonization lead us to ask whether or not women are held to a different standard where sainthood is concerned. Where among the pantheon of saints canonized 

by this pope are the women saints whose lives are characterized by independence, autonomy, a healthy respect for themselves and their aspirations, and their contributions to the world? In order to be a saint, must a woman die in childbirth, be raped or abused, or become a nun? We hope that future candidates for sainthood offer Catholic girls and women the chance to express ourselves, to stand up against injustice, and to survive." Luigi De Paoli, a spokesman for the We Are Church movement was no less forthright. He said, "People are canonized not because they are recognized first and foremost by the community as people of exceptional virtues but because they are emblematic of the pope's political line, in this case an intransigent stance concerning church teaching on abortion."