Is Batman a saint?

The Rev. Raymond J. de Souza, a Catholic chaplain at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, ponders the saintliness of the dark knight, as well as the "lethal relativism'' of the Joker, in Canada's National Post. An excerpt:

"The answer to the lethal relativism of the Joker is the witness of the one who testifies to the reality of the moral order by his own willingness to sacrifice for it. Batman tries to do that, but his witness is incomplete for he himself dwells in the shadows, behind a mask. 'Gotham needs a hero with a face,' we are told. Yes, the world needs a witness to the truth, the goodness and the beauty of reality; a witness to the order of creation; a witness to the enduring reason through which all things were made; a witness with a human face. We don't call those people superheroes. We call them saints."

And, while we're on the topic of the morality of Batman, you might want to revisit this op-ed piece that ran in the Globe last week: "Should Batman kill the Joker?" And an earlier Q&A in the Globe's Ideas section: "What Batman teaches us about philosophy."