
(ANSA) - Vatican City, January 12 - The beatification of John Paul II, the second of three steps to sainthood, has overcome its final hurdle after experts on a Vatican commission approved the late pope's first miracle.
The beatification now just needs to be sanctioned by Pope Benedict XVI, Vatican sources said Wednesday.
The Prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Angelo Amato, may submit the commission's findings to the German pontiff as early as Friday evening.
Benedict will have to examine the material before signing a decree acknowledging the miracle. He will then set a date for John Paul's beatification ceremony.
The breakthrough in the complicated, lengthy process came on Tuesday when the Vatican congregation 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 , 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.
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