alt text: a manipulated image portraying the alleged killer/controversial folk hero re-envisioned as a saintly figure, wearing Christian religious garb with a sun-like halo shining behind his head
Source: someone said this image hit the front page on reddit before being “censored”.
Apparent credit: @gedogfx (IG). Title source: “Inkl”. 💩posting for meme archival and commentary purposes.
It’s important to keep in mind that much like how politics can slow sanctification (Joan of Arc probably would’ve been canonized before the 20th century if she hadn’t been executed by the catholic church in part for her faith) it can also speed it up. St. Kolbe is a great example, he was unambiguously heroic and noble, and he was rushed to sainthood because he was obviously headed there and the catholic church had not behaved heroically during the holocaust. Sanctifying Maximilian Kolbe was, alongside the change in doctrine to no longer blame the Jewish people for the death of Jesus, an attempt to reduce the odds that catholics would try that shit again as well as to clean their image up.