Doubts hang over last pope's rise to sainthood

The Vatican marks the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II’s death this week amid doubts over the miracle needed for him to be made a saint and questions about his record combating paedophile priests.

The inexplicable cure of a young French nun from Parkinson’s disease had initially seemed like the perfect case for a miracle as the Vatican fast-tracked John Paul’s beatification.

The nun, who suffered from the same disease that ravaged John Paul for years, had prayed to him for relief and one morning two months after John Paul died, woke up completely, inexplicably cured.

But from the beginning, Marie Simon-Pierre’s mysterious cure seemed difficult for the Vatican to certify as a miracle. According to its own rules, the medically inexplicable cure must be instantaneous, complete, and lasting.

While the nun’s cure was by all indications instantaneous and complete, some would argue the world will have to wait her entire lifetime to determine whether it was lasting, in case the symptoms return.

New questions were raised in recent weeks, after a Polish newspaper reported that doubts had been cast about whether Simon-Pierre had Parkinson’s to begin with.

Rzeczpospolita, one of Poland’s most respected and widely read newspapers, suggested that Simon-Pierre instead may have suffered from another neurological disease which has similar symptoms as Parkinson’s but which can be cured.

It said the Vatican had called in new experts to examine the case.

Responding to the report, the emeritus head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, suggested that what may have happened was that a doctor, who is asked in a preliminary phase to advise if it is worth sending the case onto a medical board, may have expressed some doubts.

“It could be that one of the two medical consultants perhaps had some doubts,” he said.

“And this, unfortunately, leaked out. But we cannot confuse one thing with another.”

“So it’s wrong to say the doctors haven’t approved the miracle,” he said. “It’s absurd because the doctors of the medical consultation board haven’t pronounced themselves.”

However he acknowledged that the doubts would require further investigation. In such cases, he said, the Congregation would ask for more doctors’ opinions.

The postulator who is spearheading John Paul’s cause, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, has declined to comment.

Beatification is the first step toward possible sainthood. The Vatican must confirm one miracle has occurred due to the intercession of John Paul before he can be beatified. A second miracle is needed for him to be declared a saint.

Pope Benedict put John Paul on the fast-track for possible sainthood just weeks after his death on April 2, 2005, heeding the calls of “Santo Subito!” or “Sainthood Immediately!” that erupted in St Peter’s Square during the funeral of the much-loved pontiff.

Pope Benedict waived the customary five-year waiting period and allowed the investigation into John Paul’s life and virtues to begin immediately. In December 2009, Benedict signed a decree attesting to his “heroic virtues.”

Today the Pope will celebrate Mass at the Vatican marking the fifth anniversary of John Paul’s death.

But new questions have been raised about John Paul’s record in combating paedophile priests. He presided over the church when the sex abuse scandal exploded in the US in 2002 and the Vatican was swamped with complaints and lawsuits under his leadership. Yet during most of his 26-year papacy, individual dioceses and not the Vatican took sole responsibility for investigating misbehaviour.

But John Paul himself had long championed the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, the conservative order that fell into scandal after it revealed that its founder had fathered a child and had molested seminarians.

The Vatican began investigating allegations against the Rev. Marcial Maciel of Mexico in the 1950s, but it wasn’t until 2006, a year into Benedict’s pontificate, that the Vatican instructed Maciel to lead a “reserved life of prayer and penance” in response to the abuse allegations – effectively removing him from power.

Subsequently, Benedict ordered a full investigation of the order since its entire existence was so closely intertwined with that of its discredited founder.