español al inglés Ciencias sociales Religión

Hello,

I am translating an article that uses a lot of quotes from other published pieces. To this end, I have been researching the English equivalents, and if published, use them (with proper references) rather than redo an establshed/official translation. However, here is an example of what seems to me to be an awkward and perhaps inaccurate translation. The Spanish sentence reads:
Por eso, mi predecesor de ***venerada memoria,*** Juan Pablo II, observó con razón: «La tentación actual es la de reducir el cristianismo a una sabiduría meramente humana, casi como una ciencia del vivir bien.

The English version translates "venerada memoria" as "blessed memory", which doesn't sound quite right to me:
Rightly, therefore, my Predecessor, Pope John Paul II ***of blessed memory,*** observed: “The temptation today is to reduce Christianity to merely human wisdom, a pseudo-science of well-being.

In another article on the same website (different translator, no doubt), the term "venerada memoria" is translated as "late" - as in "the late Pope John Paul II".

Opinions? Thanks in advance!