Pope Benedict XVI Blog

Holy See hopes to raise John Paul II to the altars “as soon as possible”

Vatican City, Mar 27, 2008 / 10:54 am (CNA).- In an interview with Vatican Radio, Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, said that like many people in the world, the Holy See hopes the beatification of John Paul II will occur “as soon as possible” but that the normal process would be followed.

With the third anniversary of the late Pontiff’s death just a week away, Cardinal Saraiva reminisced about the events of those days. “We all remember the day of Pope Wojtyla’s funeral. We remember the shouts of ‘Santo subito!’ ‘Sainthood now!’ That phrase, that cry in St. Peter’s Square expressed what people were thinking. It meant that John Paul II genuinely had a true reputation for holiness among the faithful. And we know that is essential in the process of beatification,” he explained.

“If that reputation for holiness did not exist, a cause for beatification could not even begin,” Cardinal Saraiva stressed, noting that the process goes through a series of phases.

“Each process has two fundamental phases. One diocesan—local—and the other what we call ‘Roman,’ at the level of the Holy See. The diocesan phase was concluded on April 2 last year. Once the diocesan phase is closed, the Roman phase is opened immediately without delay, with the official handing over of all the documentation gathered during the diocesan phase to my dicastery.”
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 12:38 PM