Campaign to make John Paul II a saint gathers pace
Just days before the Vatican marks the third anniversary of John Paul II’s death, Monsignor Slawomir Oder announced that he has handed the document to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
It summarises and analyses all the documentation about John Paul’s life and virtues that had been gathered since his 2005 death, including testimony from witnesses and the late pontiff’s own writings.
“In the past days I have submitted a semi-final version,” Msgr Oder said.
Now an independent Vatican official, the Rev Daniel Ols, must review the report and give it the final go-ahead for an official presentation to the Congregation, which must then gather committees of cardinals and bishops to discuss the merits of the case.
The Vatican’s complicated saint-making procedures — which can include the weighing of favourable and unfavourable information — require that a miracle attributed to the candidate’s intercession be confirmed before beatification.
A second miracle is then necessary for canonisation.
Pope Benedict put John Paul on the fast track for possible sainthood just weeks after his death on April 2, 2005, waiving the customary five-year waiting period and allowing the investigation into his virtues to begin immediately.
Such a waiver had only been granted once before, to Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 and who was beatified by John Paul in 2003.
John Paul’s sainthood process is going ahead quickly, with milestones reached at nearly every anniversary of his death.
Last year, the investigation into John Paul’s life and virtues was officially closed, and French church officials turned over to the Vatican documentation about a purported miracle attributed to his intercession.
Pope Benedict is due to preside over a Mass tomorrow marking the third anniversary of John Paul’s death.
