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宗教審查服務
The Lord's outsourced work
上帝的外包工作
The Vatican introduces price controls on the saint-verifying business
羅馬教廷在圣徒核查領域引入價格控制機制
IF YOU came across an essay titled The Cost of Sainthood you might assume it was a homily on the self-sacrificing life of some heroic person.
如果你偶然看到一篇文章題為《圣徒的代價》，你可能以為這是一篇關于某個英雄人物自我犧牲的道德說教。
But it turns out that sainthood has a cost in a more literal sense—and it has been rising.
但是事實上，作為圣徒還有一個實際意義上的花費，而且這個花費在不斷增加。
When Cardinal John O'Connor ofNew Yorkstarted a campaign for the canonisation of Dorothy Day, an activist who toiled among the city's poor, some said this was a bad use of church funds.
多羅西·戴是一名掙扎在紐約貧苦人群中的激進主義分子。紐約主教約翰·歐·康納為其的圣徒冊封儀式發起活動，而有人說這一行為濫用了教派基金。
He retorted that the expense was not excessive: an initiative to canonise a Haitian-born New Yorker called Pierre Toussaint, already well advanced, had cost less than $4,000
主教反駁道，此項花費并非多度：為一名出生在海地的紐約人皮埃爾·圖森特發起的冊封倡議已經花費超過4000美元，而這一活動進展非常順利。
But that was in the late 1990s. These days a successful canonisation campaign launched inAmericatypically costs around $250,000, and can go far higher, says the Catholic News Service, an agency editorially independent of the church.
獨立于教會的編輯代理機構《天主教新聞通訊社》稱，但是那是在二十世紀九十年代末期。現在在美國，一項成功的圣徒冊封活動大致需要花費25萬美元甚至更高。
The procedures for having somebody recognised as a saint are elaborate and bureaucratic.
讓某人受封成為圣徒的程序復雜精細而又莊嚴肅穆。
They require an exchange of documents and expertise over many years between the person's home region and theVatican.
需要主教奔赴候選人的家鄉，調查相關文獻，并將資料送到教會，獲得相關專家的意見。
All sorts of experts may be called in, including doctors, who are asked to comment on the two miraculous cures which are a prerequisite for full sainthood.
這一過程將歷時多年。各類專家將會被召集，其中也包括醫生，他們將會對兩種疑難雜癥的治愈過程進行評價，因為這是完全成為圣徒的首要條件之一。
And a key role is played by an expert, often a Rome-based canon lawyer, known as a postulator, who mediates between the candidate's fan base and theVatican, and helps prepare a case for sainthood.
另外，專家也將發揮重要作用。這個專家通常是一個來自于羅馬的寺院律師，被叫做列圣申請官。
To the dismay of Dan Brown fans, the role of devil's advocate, who argued against a prospective sainthood, was abolished in 1983.
他將會在候選人的支持者基地和羅馬教會之間進行調停，并協助候選人的受封儀式。令丹·布朗的追隨者沮喪的是，扮演與候選圣徒唱反調的魔鬼辯護人的角色在1983年被取締。
The whole business will come under scrutiny this year, with two recentish popes—John XXIII and John Paul II—due to be proclaimed saints in April.
今年，圣徒冊封儀式將會在準教皇約翰二十三世和約翰·保羅二世兩位的仔細審查下進行。
This helps explain why, in a speech to postulators this month, Cardinal Angelo Amato, who oversees the Vatican's sainthood department, disclosed that it had introduced a reference tariff—in effect, price regulation—for the costs incurred in promoting a possible saint.
這兩位將會在今年四月正式宣誓上任。這也就是為什么本月掌管羅馬教廷圣徒機構的主教安格魯·阿瑪托在致列圣申請官的講話中提到的，他們將會針對提名一個圣徒候選人所產生的相關費用引進一項舉薦關稅。 這項關稅實際上是一種價格規章。
The department will also continue to ensure that candidates from poor countries, whose backers are less able to pay for elaborate verification services, get a fair hearing.
這個機構也會繼續確保來自貧窮國家的人們有機會成為候選人。這些人們的支持者無力支付詳盡審查服務的費用或舉行一個公平的聽證會。
Even that policy has its detractors.
但這個政策仍然有反對的聲音。
Bill Briggs, author of a book on canonisation, has argued that the investigation system introduced by John Paul II, since it is less adversarial than before, was a marketing coup: it facilitated a wave of new saints in emerging markets, helping to recruit new souls to Catholicism.
比爾·布里格斯寫了一本關于圣徒冊封儀式的著作。在書中，他駁斥由教皇約翰·保羅二世引入的候選人調查制度是一個營銷詭計，因為該制度不像以往那樣具有反抗意識。它催生了新興市場里一批新圣徒的誕生，為天主教注入了新鮮的血液。
But sainthood is never just a matter of money.
但是成為圣徒決不是只關乎金錢。
Some see the canonisation of two popes—a Polish conservative and an Italian reformer—as a way to reconcile traditionalists and radicals.
有人認為兩位教皇的冊封，是傳統主義者和激進分子相互妥協的一種方式。
And Meaghan O'Keefe of the University of California,Davissees the promotion of Dorothy Day as a move by male bishops to neutralise the country's left-leaning nuns.
加州大學戴維斯分校的米根·歐·基夫認為男性主教對多羅西·戴的提名，旨在尋求國家重心的平均分配，而不是過度傾向于關注修道院。
Politics comes into the picture, as well as Mammon.
政治問題以及財富收入也成為成為需要考慮的相關因素。
