“To venerate the relics of the saints is a profession of belief in several doctrines of the Catholic faith:
(1) the belief in everlasting life for those who have obediently witnessed to Christ and His Holy Gospel here on earth;
(2) the truth of the resurrection of the body for all persons on the last day;
(3) the doctrine of the splendour of the human body and the respect which all should show toward the bodies of both the living and the deceased;
(4) the belief in the special intercessory power which the saints enjoy in heaven because of their intimate relationship with Christ the King; and
(5) the truth of our closeness to the saints because of our connection in the communion of saints — we as members of the Church militant or pilgrim Church, they as members of the Church triumphant.” (Fr. W. Saunders, “Church Teaching on Relics”, © 2003 Arlington Catholic Herald)
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