Pope Benedict XVI today made the announcement many had been hoping for but had predicted might not happen in the timeframe they wanted: he announced that he has sped up the period of time needed to attain sainthood for Pope John Paul II.
There’s usually a five-year waiting period but the new Pope, a friend of John Paul II who many now acknowledge was one of the greatest and most popular Popes who ever lived, is putting his former boss’s sainthood on the fast track. The AP:
The pope made the announcement during a meeting with the Roman clergy at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, first telling the assembled priests, “and now I have a very joyous piece of news for you.”
Immediately following Pope John Paul’s death on April 2, there were calls from faithful for his sainthood. At his funeral Mass, pilgrims held up banners saying “Santo Subito” (“Immediate Sainthood”).
The announcement came on the anniversary of an 1981 assassination attempt by a Turkish gunman against John Paul in St. Peter’s Square.
So there was a special symbolism of the day: John Paul’s near-miraculous survival of the assassination and his high-profile forgiveness of the man who shot him has become the stuff of legend for people of all ages. More:
The pope read a letter in Latin in which the Vatican official in charge of sainthood, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, announced that Benedict himself had authorized the beginning of John Paul’s path to sainthood. The announcement drew a standing ovation from the Roman priests.
Benedict, who had been seated, stood up to join the clergy in applauding the major tribute to his predecessor.
John Paul himself lifted the five-year waiting period for Mother Teresa, after the death of the nun who dedicated her life to caring for India’s poorest people.
But Vatican experts have noted that, even with the waiting period lifted, a lengthy investigation into John Paul’s life and confirmation of a miracle attributed to him would be required before he could be beatified.
Somehow we suspect there will be confirmation of a miracle attributed to him — since John Paul was the kind of person you are lucky to see in your lifetime. Prediction: his reputation will grow even more with time.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.