How far should Catholics celebrate a "secular" saint?

Nelson Mandela has reached his 90th birthday, an event that has been celebrated internationally. The Jesuit online journal Thinking Faith carried an article praising Mandela as an "apostle of justice". The article seemed to have adopted this title for him un-critically, though it may well prove to be generally justified.

As a general principle, praise of "secular saints" like Nelson Mandela needs to be undertaken as an act of dialogue. This involves recognising those points in their lives which are true and good, and giving due praise for them, whilst at the same time not endorsing aspects of their lives that may be in conflict with Catholic teaching.

Nelson Mandela was a key figure in founding a "military wing" of the African National Congress (ANC) in 1960-62. Previously, the ANC had always advocated peaceful means (forms of civil disobedience) of campaigning against apartheid. What is interesting here is that Nelson Mandela had been a member of the ANC for many years before this, with experience of the peaceful forms of protest. What he saw, however, was that this was not achieving the needed outcome, and that the repression from the government and security forces in South Africa was becoming increasingly violent. Did Nelson Mandela find himself at this time in a similar position to that of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador, who referred to Pope Paul VI's encyclical Populorum Progressio to recognise that, in a situation of sustained injustice seriously injurious to human rights and the common good, insurrectional violence might be justified?

Since his retirement from the political life of South Africa, Nelson Mandela has campaigned on the issue of HIV/AIDS. His "46664" campaign and the work of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund are manifestations of this. I have not been able to find out all the work that is supported by these campaigns, but the 46664 website indicates a range of activities with which the Church would have no problem. He has certainly referred on more than one occasion, including when his son died of HIV/AIDS, to the need to overcome the stigma often associated with the disease in African and which hinders treatment and support for those who are infected. It needs to be treated as a "normal disease".

As an aside, I think the language of the "fight against AIDS" inadvertently contributes to this stigma. Medical care, for example, is not about fighting against a "disease" hidden in the patient; it is about caring for and treating the patient who has the disease. The language of "fighting AIDS" too easily slips, albeit accidentally, into a sense of the person who is suffering from it as being some kind of "enemy"; it is much better to have a language of being "for" the person who suffers. This is something that Nelson Mandela seems to appreciate.

Nelson Mandela has married three times, divorcing his first two wives. Clearly, the circumstances of his political life and imprisonment contributed to this, and it is necessary to read more closely into the precise circumstances to have a proper understanding of this aspect of Nelson Mandela's life. Nevertheless, it is perhaps a point that suggests Catholic praise of Nelson Mandela may need to be qualified.