Case for John Paul's sainthood begins early

Pope John Paul

ROME - Pope John Paul, considered a saint by many Roman Catholics even before he died in April, has had his case for sainthood launched years before the traditional official waiting period is finished.

A six-man tribunal -- including John Paul's postulator or defender, a judge and a "devil's advocate" who will look into objections to the cause -- was sworn in at an emotional ceremony at St John Lateran Basilica in Rome.

Speaking in Latin, they took vows of secrecy and swore not to accept any gifts related to the case.

"We pray to God, with all of our hearts, that the beatification and canonisation cause started this evening can quickly reach its crowning," Rome's Cardinal Camillo Ruini said to chants of "John Paul!" and loud applause.

Waiving Catholic rules that require a five-year waiting period after a candidate has died, the Rome diocese opened the procedure to beatify John Paul less than three months after his death. Italian media said it was a record.

"It's certainly the fastest opening of a beatification procedure in modern history, at least since the Middle Ages," said Giovanni Maria Vian, a professor of religious history at La Sapienza university.

Beatification requires a miracle after the candidate's death and is the first step towards canonisation, which requires a second miracle.

Ruini on Tuesday said John Paul's faith, his suffering later in life and the "blood spilt" during an assassination attempt in 1981 were all signs of his holiness.

The priest promoting the cause, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, will present the tribunal with the evidence he has collected as well as a list of witnesses prepared to testify.

On Monday, Oder told Reuters he had been inundated with emails and letters attesting to miracles brought about thanks to the late pontiff's intervention with God.

"We've been at a level of 80 to 100 (emails and letters) a day ... They have come from all over the world, even from non-believers," he said.

He said he could not reveal the details of the messages recounting miracles, but many stories were circulating even before the Polish pope had died.

In one often cited example, a Mexican boy who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer reportedly staged an inexplicable recovery after meeting John Paul.

At his funeral on April 8, crowds chanted "Santo Subito!" (Make him a saint now!) and held up banners attesting to John Paul's saintly ways.

Last month, Pope Benedict dispensed with the rules to put his predecessor on the fast track to possible sainthood.

John Paul did the same for Mother Teresa, but even in her case, the process only began two years after her death.

"But the quick start doesn't mean John Paul will be the fastest saint ever made," La Sapienza's Vian said, noting that experts will have to review everything that Karol Wojtyla wrote before he was elected pope and during his long papacy.

The flood of emails and support could also slow things up since it will create more work for the investigators, he said.

- REUTERS