certainty of canonizations on friday may marty helgesen wrote public revelation which is the basis of catholic doctrine ended with the death of st john the last apostle nothing new can be added every so often the pope declares that some departed christian is now in heaven and may be invoked in the public rites of the church it is my understanding that roman catholics believe that such declarations by the pope are infallible i see three possibilities the church has received a public revelation since the death of for example joan of arc the church was given a list before the death of st john which had joan s name on it there is no public revelation about joan and roman catholics are free to doubt that she died in a state of grace or even that she is a historical character yours james kiefer
