Pope marks John Paul's death

The Pope praised the “human and supernatural” qualities of John Paul II during a mass marking the third anniversary of the Polish pontiff’s death today.

He compared the suffering of his predecessor’s last months to that of Christ on the cross. In the last years of John Paul’s pontificate, Parkinson’s disease slowly sapped the energy of the once-vigorous church leader, and in the end left him unable to speak. He was 84 when he died.

“Just as happened with Jesus, also for John Paul II; in the end words gave way to the extreme sacrifice, and to the gift of self,” the pope said during the 90-minute ceremony in St. Peter’s Square.

He celebrated the mass with members of the College of Cardinals, including the archbishop of Krakow, Poland, Stanislaw Dziwisz, the late pope’s private secretary, who was at his side for almost 40 years.

Thousands of pilgrims and tourists – many from the late pontiff’s homeland - packed the square, recalling the days after John Paul’s death, when more than two million people lined up night and day to pay homage as his body lay in St Peter’s Basilica.

The Pope also underlined John Paul’s “extraordinary faith” and said it allowed him to have an intimate and uninterrupted conversation with God.

“Among his human and supernatural qualities, he in fact had that of an exceptional spiritual and mystical sensitivity,” the pope said during his homily.

Only a month after John Paul’s death, Benedict put him on the fast track for sainthood, waiving the usual five years before a person’s life and works can be examined for possible canonisation. The process for beatification, the stepping stone to sainthood, is under way, and the required miracle, which must occur after a candidate’s death, has been identified for examination by a team of church experts and doctors for its authenticity.

The possible miracle involves the cure of Parkinson’s disease of a 47-year-old French nun who works in a maternity ward.