Beatification of Pope John Paul II
Schools Relations with: John Paul II's official title was "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Head of the College of Bishops, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servus Servorum Dei, Pope John Paul II".
However, in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Vicar Camillo Ruini, the one responsible for promoting the cause for canonisation of any person who dies within the diocese of Rome, cited "exceptional circumstances" which suggested that the waiting period could be waived.
[11] The decision was announced on 13 May 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II at St. Peter's Square.
Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun confined to her bed by Parkinson's disease, was reported to have woken up free of symptoms on 2 June 2005, "after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II".
[7][16][17] A member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood from Puyricard, near Aix-en-Provence,[18] Simon-Pierre returned to work at a maternity hospital run by her order.
In January 2007, it was announced by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz of Kraków, his former secretary, that the key interviewing phase in Italy and Poland of the beatification process was nearing completion.
Following a ceremony on 2 April 2007 – the second anniversary of the Pontiff's death – the cause proceeded to the scrutiny of the committee of lay, clerical, and episcopal members of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who will conduct an investigation of their own.
[32] On 16 November 2009, a panel of reviewers at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that Pope John Paul II had lived a life of virtue.
[35] The second vote and the second signed decree would recognise the authenticity of his first miracle (most likely, the case of Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, the French nun who was cured of Parkinson's disease).
[37][38] Sister Marie's symptoms were analyzed very thoroughly before the beatification was announced (by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints and its medical panel for the Pope's case) to make sure they were not actually psychogenic, or related to another disease.
[45][48] The Prefecture of the Papal Household, Bishop James Michael Harvey, has issued a draft program for the Beatification of John Paul II, describing it as "a great ecclesial event", the office in charge of organising audiences and handles ticketing for all papal events at the Vatican, issued a statement that began "tickets are not needed to attend the beatification ceremony".
[55]John Paul II has been criticised (more than perhaps any other issue) for not recognising the full severity of the sex abuse cases until they erupted in America in 2002.
He has also been criticised for hindering[56][57][58] the investigation into the charges of sexual immorality leveled against Father Marcial Maciel Degollado and for allowing diocesan bishops to transfer pedophile priests from one parish to another instead of reporting their crimes to the authorities.
[59] Meanwhile, Pope Benedict stands accused of deliberately hushing up the abundance of public and private affection[58] displayed between John Paul II and Father Marciel.
The book's publication last March [2012] and Benedict's refusal to meet with Maciel victims on a trip to Mexico [in the very same month] ignited an onslaught of bad press for the pope.
Benedict had to reckon with the embarrassment of John Paul's praise of Maciel after the 1998 case, in essence scoffing at allegations against one of the most notorious sexual criminals in church history.
By keeping a lid on Maciel's secret life, Barba said, Benedict hoped "to defend the sainthood case against the accusations that John Paul protected predators.
[66][67][68][69] Scholars of Canon Law say that there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great"; the title simply establishes itself through popular and continued usage.
