New rules make sainthood harder

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The Vatican Monday issued a new set of rules tightening criteria for declaring someone a saint in a move seen as a return to more traditional practices.

The 100-page document released instructs Catholic bishops to be tougher when deciding which candidates for sainthood can begin the official procedures leading to canonization, Italy's ANSA news agency reports.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, head of the Vatican's saints department, writes the new rules ask bishops to show "greater sobriety and rigor" when accepting requests to begin the first phase of the proceedings.

ANSA says in a recent interview Cardinal Martins hinted that under Pope John Paul II certain prospective saints were fast-tracked because they came from countries the pope was set to visit or countries that didn't have a saint.

A new set of rules was needed, Cardinal Martins said, "to respond better to the new spirit introduced by Benedict XVI."

Critics of Pope John Paul II said his approach had devalued sainthood in the eyes of the world.