VATICAN:The campaign to make Pope John Paul II a saint has reached a landmark as promoters say they have offered proof of a purported miracle and a cardinal has suggested it should be speeded up because there was no doubt of his sanctity.
At a ceremony including solemn oaths and centuries-old sacred rituals on the second anniversary of his death, officials yesterday formally concluded the first phase of an investigation into his holiness.
The Rome diocese gave the Vatican tens of thousands of pages of documents and transcripts which 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, hundreds of years.
The evidence gathered and handed over at the ceremony at Rome's Basilica of St John includes testimony from about 130 people as well as scrutiny of his life, spoken words and writings.
Three black leather trunks were sealed with ribbon and hot red wax as Church officials and thousands of faithful applauded.
They include documents on the case of Sr Marie Simon-Pierre (46), a French nun diagnosed with Parkinson's - the same disease that the late Pope had - until she said it inexplicably disappeared two months after his death.
Sr Simon-Pierre, who worked as a maternity ward supervisor in Aix-En-Provence, could be central to the case since the church demands proof of a medically unexplained healing before a candidate can be beatified. She attended Monday's ceremony.
The documents prepared by the Rome and Krakow dioceses (where he was archbishop) will now be opened and reviewed by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
If the Vatican rules that the cure of Sr Simon-Pierre was a miracle, another would be required before sainthood would be bestowed. - ( Reuters)