The cause of Isabel the Catholic

The bishops of Spain repeated to the pope their request for the beatification of the very controversial Isabel of Catstille (1451-1504). This request has not failed to cause a stir, for the celebrated queen has opponents…who are less Catholic than she is.
In 1992, the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints decided, with the utmost discretion, to stop this cause. The bishops of Valencia, Seville and Avila had pressed the Congregation to move the cause forward with a view to a 1992 beatification, coinciding with the fifth centenary of the discovery of the Americas. So as not to offend the Jewish community, the proponents of Jewish-Christian dialog stopped the cause. Also intervening, quite openly, were the Pontifical Council for the Unity of Christians (which deals with Jewish relations), the Secretariat of State and, of course, John-Paul II himself” reported La Croix-L’Evénement on March 28, 1991.
The merits of Isabel the Catholic are by no means negligible, however. She contributed to the establishment of the Catholic Church in Latin America. Putting a definitive end to the Moorish presence in Spain (with the taking of Grenada in 1492), she assured the hegemony of the Catholic Church in her kingdom. In 1494, she received from the pope, along with her husband Ferdinand of Aragon, the title of “Catholic Monarchs” by reason of her religious policies.
Msgr. Jose Delicado, archbishop of Valladolid and instigator of the campaign, thinks “we need to abandon intransigence and see this fascinating woman in the context of her times”. The bishops hope she will be beatified in 2004, to mark the 500th anniversary of her death.