Late Pope moves step closer to Sainthood

Catholic Church officials reached a key milestone in the drive to make Pope John Paul II a saint today.

Closing an investigation into his life, they handed over a dossier detailing the purported miraculous cure of a nun who prayed to him.

The events come two years to the day after John Paul died – a remarkably fast pace that underscores the Church’s keen interest in beatifying John Paul and responding to the calls of “Santo Subito” or “Sainthood Immediately!” that erupted after his death. Pope Benedict XVI put John Paul on the fast track for possible sainthood just weeks after his April 2, 2005, death, when he waived the customary five-year waiting period and allowed the investigation into John Paul’s virtues to begin immediately.

Such a waiver had only been granted once before, to Mother Teresa.

The Vatican will begin evaluating the case of a French nun who said she was miraculously healed after praying to John Paul.

The nun, Marie Simon-Pierre, is expected to be among thousands of pilgrims who will attend ceremonies today to mark the late pope’s passing.

She says her Parkinson’s disease, the same illness that afflicted John Paul, disappeared two months after he died.

If a church committee agrees that the cure was, in fact, a miracle attributed to intercession before God by John Paul, then he is eligible to be beatified, the final step before becoming a saint.

A second miracle is required for sainthood.

Benedict will not attend today’s ceremony at the St John Lateran basilica to close the investigation into John Paul’s life, a key step in the process of beatification and canonisation.

He was, however, scheduled to celebrate a Mass later in the day at St Peter’s Basilica to mark the second anniversary of John Paul’s death.