The process that should lead to the late Pope John Paul II being declared a saint in record time began on Tuesday with a solemn ceremony in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, packed with faithful.
The ceremony, conducted mostly in Latin, was led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who serves as the pope's vicar for the diocese of the city where Polish-born Karol Wojtyla died on April 2nd at the age of 84.
In his speech, Ruini expressed the view that the process leading to John Paul II being declared a saint would be completed rapidly, in view also of "the numerous accounts testifying to the virtues" of the late pontiff that had reached the Roman Catholic Church.
Ruini described the beatification process as somewhat "superfluous," "so large and universal is the knowledge of him and so deep and unanimous the belief in his sainthood," Ruini said to rapturous applause.
personal aide
Among those listening to his speech were cardinals and bishops like Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who worked as the closest personal aide of John Paul for the duration of his nearly 27-year papacy and to whom his personal documents were entrusted after his death.
Those documents will likely be submitted to the postulator in charge of the process, Slawomir Oder of Poland.
Oder was among a number of officials called to take an oath of secrecy and swear that they would not accept gifts that could influence their judgement during Tuesday's ceremony, which was followed with excitement in Wojtyla's native town of Wadowice.
"We're very pleased that here in Wadowice we'll be able to pray to one of our own, our very own saint," a Wadowice resident identified as Edward told the Poland's TVN24 news channel.
While the process leading to the late pope's beatification and canonization is taking place in record time, it will likely take months, if not years, to be completed, officials have warned.
record time
Speaking to the Italian news agency Ansa earlier this week, Oder would not be drawn on how long it might take for the process to be completed, noting that his office would have to go through numerous documents and witness accounts.
Beatification also requires the attribution of at least one miracle testifying the person's intercession with God. The miracle, usually an inexplicable healing on the part of a faithful, must have taken place after the death of a candidate, not before.
Calls for John Paul to be declared a saint began to be heard just days after his death, when pilgrims gathered for his funeral in St. Peter's Square chanted and waved banners reading "Santo Subito" (Saint Now).
Normally, the process cannot start until five years after the death of a candidate.
But John Paul's successor, Pope Benedict XVI, agreed to lift the five-year waiting period, much like his predecessor did with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was beatified just six years after her death.
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