Beatification of John Paul II begins

Pope Benedict said yesterday 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.

Pope 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.

Pope 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.

The crowds at John Paul's funeral on April 8 chanted "Santo Subito" (Make him a saint now!) and held up banners attesting to Pope John Paul's saintly ways.

The five-year waiting rule is meant, among other things, to allow emotions to settle down after a person dies and for documentation and witnesses supporting the sainthood cause to be prepared.

But Pope John Paul, who broke many procedural rules in his nearly 27-year-long papacy, had himself set a precedent in 1999 when he granted a dispensation and let Mother Teresa's sainthood cause start only two years after her death. She was beatified in 2003.

The news was received with joy in Poland, where television stations flashed in on the bottoms of screens.

"I thank God the new Pope made this decision," said Fr Wlodzimierz Lukowicz, a priest in Skawina, near John Paul's hometown of Wadowice in southern Poland. "John Paul was a model for all of us Poles, he showed us how to love in suffering."

Many of the people who knew or worked with Pope John Paul are still alive. This could speed up the case significantly because witnesses would be available readily to testify.

In past centuries, the saint-making procedure has often been long, bureaucratic and expensive but many Catholics said Pope John Paul's life of suffering and service was clear for all to see and that his holiness was an open and shut case.

The immense devotion Pope John Paul received was made clear by the some five million people who either saw the Pope's body or attended his funeral in less than a week in April.

By comparison, the shrine at Lourdes, France, where the Madonna is said to have appeared, gets six million pilgrims a year.

When the sainthood cause is formally begun by the cardinal of Rome, Pope John Paul will have the title "Servant of God".

A "postulator" will be appointed to help gather information from people who knew him and to seek evidence of holiness. A "relator" will be appointed to evaluate evidence and make a recommendation.

Pope John Paul's sainthood process would move more quickly than others because it will be classified as a recent rather than ancient cause, bypassing a Vatican historical commission and moving directly to a theological commission.

If an initial investigation ends positively, Pope Benedict will issue a decree recognising his predecessor's "heroic virtues". Pope John Paul will then get the title "venerable".

One miracle is required after Pope John Paul's death for the cause to move on to beatification. The miracle must be the result of prayers asking the dead Pope to intercede with God.

Miracles are usually a physical healing which doctors are at a loss to explain.

Another miracle would be necessary between beatification and eventual sainthood.