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Journalism of Courage
Pope Benedict said on Friday he had put his predecessor Pope John Paul on the fast track to possible sainthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
In a surprise announcement to priests in Rome, the Pope told them he had dispensed with Church rules that impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate’s death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can even start.
The priests in St. John’s Basilica broke into sustained applause when he made his comments in Latin, the official language of the Church. He then joked that there was no need to repeat it in Italian since they all understood.
John Paul died on April 2 and if normal rules had been applied, the procedure leading to his beatification could not have started until 2010.
Beatification is the last step before sainthood.
Benedict’s decision, announced on the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt against John Paul, means he could be beatified and so declared a ‘‘blessed of the Church’’ within a few years if a miracle can be attributed to his intercession.
Crowds at John Paul’s funeral on April 8 chanted ‘‘Santo Subito’’ (Make him a saint now!), holding up banners attesting to his saintly ways.
The news was received with joy in Poland, where television stations flashed in on the bottoms of screens. Many of the people who knew or worked with John Paul are still alive. This could speed up the case significantly because witnesses would be available readily to testify. —Reuters
