(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 14 - John Paul II moved closer to sainthood Friday when the Vatican announced he will be beatified on May 1 after his first miracle was officially attributed to him.
His successor Pope Benedict XVI sanctioned the beatification, the last step before sainthood, by signing a decree submitted by a Vatican commission earlier this week after it approved the miracle.
Benedict will personally preside over the beatification ceremony on May Day, said Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. On Tuesday the Congregation for the Causes of Saints unanimously confirmed that a French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, was miraculously cured of Parkinson's Disease through the intervention of John Paul II.
The Polish pope, who also suffered from Parkinson's Disease, died aged 84 on April 2, 2005. Sister Simon-Pierre testified that same year that she had dreamed of the late pope shortly before recovering. The Vatican had received hundreds of reports of alleged miracles attributed to the intervention of John Paul but decided to stick to the nun's case for his beatification.
The beatification process was delayed after Polish newspapers reported in March 2010 that the nun did not suffer from Parkinson's Disease, but from a similar illness which was not terminal. A commission of medical experts and theologians, however, cleared the way for John Paul's beatification by confirming the miracle.
One miracle is needed for the Catholic Church to accord beatification, whereas two miracles are required for sainthood. In the case of pontiffs the procedure is usually much longer because the Vatican must examine more material given the mass of responsibility and decisions made by popes. However, Pope Benedict XVI put John Paul II's beatification cause on a fast track, waiving a rule requiring a five-year wait before the start of the process. Lombardi stressed, however, that this did not mean the process had been any less rigorous than otherwise would have been the case.
John Paul II's body will be moved up from the crypt in St Peter's to the Chapel of St Sebastian near Michelangelo's famous Pieta' statue before the beatification. Lombardi said though that the body will not ''be exhumed... it will not be shown''.
The Chapel of St Sebastian was chosen because it is close to the entrance to the basilica and so it will be easier for the Polish pontiff's hosts of admirers to get to. for Source click the Title.
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