St. Audrey of Worcester? Skeptics say no.

In today's Globe, reporter Michael Levenson takes a look at the effort by some Catholics in central Massachusetts to persuade the Vatican to canonize "Little Audrey" Santo, who some say worked miracles while unable to speak or move after a near-drowning. An excerpt:

"Over the next 14 years, the bed-ridden girl, Audrey, became an object of intense devotion for thousands who came to peer through a window cut into her bedroom and pray. Time and again, they reported seeing miracles in her presence: hosts bled, oil formed in a priest's cup, the sick were healed. In 1998, 10,000 people celebrated Mass in a stadium in Worcester with Audrey, who was brought there by ambulance. In April 2007, she died quietly at home, at the age of 23. Now her supporters have launched a mission to make Audrey a saint. Last month, with permission from the Diocese of Worcester, they began gathering evidence of her life's work and miracles."

But scholars say the canonization is unlikely:

In past centuries, the church regularly canonized saints such as Joseph of Cupertino, a 17th-century Franciscan known as "the flying friar" for his ability to levitate, and Catherine of Siena, the 14th-century mystic who received the wounds of Christ. But over the last century, the church has shifted, scholars say. Pope Benedict XVI "is more interested in models than in miracle workers," said Lawrence S. Cunningham, a theologian at Notre Dame, and author of "A Brief History of Saints."..."When it comes to making saints, the Vatican is much more concerned that people are like us - that they live the virtues of faith over charity and wisdom," said the Rev. Paul G. Robichaud, who is leading a movement to canonize Isaac Hecker, who founded the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle in New York in 1858. "And when you hear about these apparitions or levitations or weeping statues, this catches the public imagination, but it does not impress the Vatican."

(Photo, by Jim Collins/AP, shows Audrey Santo lying in a glass-enclosed space on Aug. 9, 1999, in Christ the King Church in Worcester, where thousands of people showed up to see her and seek healing or other miracles.)