Why Does the Pope Want to Beatify a Habsburg?
Gerald Russello, in the WSJ (Nov. 15, 2004): Mr. Russello is a fellow of the Chesterton Institute at Seton Hall University.] The Habsburgs are back. Although the family has been out of power since 1918, the beatification of Charles I Habsburg of Austria (1887-1922), the last ruler of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has touched off an international controversy. Two years ago, Pope John Paul II began the process and credited Charles’s “heroic virtue” and his efforts to bring an early end to World War I. John Paul further expressed his hope that Charles (who succeeded his great-uncle Francis Joseph I in 1916, and died in exile six years later at the age of 35) would “serve as an example, especially for those with political responsibilities in Europe today,” as a statesman who emphasized the vocation of political leadership and devotion to peace. Many people saw the decision as either wrong-headed or somewhat sinister. Some Catholics thought that beatifying the Emperor would cause trouble for
