Pope John Paul's sainthood bid reached a landmark today as investigators offered evidence of a purported miracle.
John Paul during the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) on Good Friday, April 18th 2003. Photo: Max Rossi/Reuters
At a ceremony on the second anniversary of his death, Catholic officials formally concluded the first phase of an investigation into his life and holiness.
The Rome diocese gave the Vatican tens of thousands of pages of documents and transcripts that propose that John Paul should be beatified, the last step before sainthood.
Two years is an unusually short time for the completion of the first phase of a sainthood cause, which can usually take decades or, in some cases, even centuries.
The evidence gathered and symbolically handed over at a ceremony at Rome's Basilica of St John includes testimony from some 130 people as well as scrutiny of his life, spoken words and writings.
Most significantly, it includes the case of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun (46) diagnosed with Parkinson's - the same disease that the late Pope had - until she said it inexplicably disappeared two months after his death.
The documentation prepared by the Rome and Krakow dioceses will now be reviewed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints. If the Vatican rules the cure of the nun a miracle, another would be required before sainthood is bestowed.