TWO YEARS after the death of Pope John Paul II, the Roman Curia, the supreme pastoral council of the Catholic Church, has already completed the initial step in lifting the late Pope into sainthood, despite the five-year requirement prior to beatification. Beatification entitles a person to be venerated and to acquire the title, “Blessed.” As the late Pope reached the first stage of beatification, he claims the title of “Venerable.”
“In order to prevent emotions from playing part in the investigation, a five-year waiting period is usually observed before inquiries are conducted for the beatification procedures,” Institute of Religion assistant director Dionisia Roman told the Varsitarian.
Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta was also given the same fast-track beatification in 2003 due to public clamor or the “sense of the faithful” for the speedy processing of her sainthood.
Archbishop Stanislaw Cardinal Dziwisz of Krakow, Poland, the archdiocese where John Paul II once served as a cardinal, handed a dossier of the late Pontiff’s writings to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints in time for the Pope’s second death anniversary last April 2.
Containing the late Pope’s encyclicals and apostolic writings, the dossier was compiled to support moves pushing for the late Pontiff’s sainthood. The writings will be investigated for any heretical undertone.
Meanwhile, BBC News reported that investigations were also conducted to verify the testimony of a French nun, Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre of the Congregation of Little Nuns of Catholic Motherhood, who claimed of being cured of Parkinson’s disease after praying for the late Pope’s intercession.
Since Vatican’s complex beatification procedures require a scientifically-verifiable miracle, Simon-Pierre’s sworn statement was forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for authentication. But another validated miracle is necessary for the Pope to be canonized a saint.
The late Pontiff’s canonization is supported by UST. “Pope John Paul II’s visit in UST in the 1995 World Youth Day gave a touch of his closeness to the institution. UST has nothing against his fast-tracks to sainthood,” said Roman. “He deserves it.” Francis James B. Gatdula
