John Paul II has been in the express lane to canonization since two months after his death in 2005. At that time, Pope Benedict XVI announced he was waiving the customary five-year waiting period to begin the process.
Monday, the second anniversary of John Paul's death, the findings of diocesan investigations were passed on to the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints. A panel of theologians and a group of cardinals and bishops must give their approval, and then the case will be sent to Benedict. This puts John Paul well on his way to sainthood.
And to think, it took Joan of Arc almost 500 years.
John Paul likely looks to do it in five or six, Michael Walsh, author of "The Dictionary of Christian Biography," told BBC.
But while fast-tracking the late pope may quell the demands of those chanting "Santo Subito" — sainthood now — at his funeral, is it really a good idea?
There are probably few who would disagree with the idea that John Paul was a great man of faith, but this idea of "sainthood" leaves little room for human flaws or imperfections. As time passes, the faults of saints are forgotten, leaving only a spotless memory.
Writer and journalist Ambrose Bierce defined a saint as "a dead sinner revised and edited."
Accelerating this, it would seem, just speeds up the editing process.
John Paul's refusal to endorse condoms has critics saying that he refused to support preventing the spread of HIV, which would make him responsible for the deaths of a mass of people.
Granting canonization is something that John Paul knew a lot about, as the late pope was responsible for more beatifications (1,340) and canonizations (482) than all of the popes before him combined.
The performing of miracles is one of the main components in the canonization process. Potential saints are required to have performed two miracles — one for beatification (veneration of the person in their home diocese) and one for canonization (veneration throughout the world).
Mother Teresa, under John Paul's authority, was put on the same fast-track to sainthood and currently stands as the fastest to attain beatification, just six years after her death in 1997.
This has made sainthood controversial.
Hasty decisions may be to blame, according to critics, for opinions that Mother Teresa was made a saint too soon. Although she is known for her care for the poor and sick, Mother Teresa also "had some rather questionable friends among nasty Third World dictators," according to the Belfast Telegraph.
One of the main people calling for John Paul's canonization is a French nun, who is making claims that he cured her Parkinson's disease after she prayed to him.
John Paul's final years also were marked by his struggle with the disease.
The miracles required usually are in the realm of medical cures, and the recovery from them must be sudden and unexplainable by doctors.
Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who had been diagnosed with the disease in 2001, is saying that she was cured after John Paul's death in 2005.
The effects of her Parkinson's, a degenerative disease of the nervous system, had left the nun with little control of her hand. Exactly two months after the pope's death, Simon-Pierre got the urge to write after saying her evening prayers. And it was legible.
As medical experts examine her claims, the fact that there are no tests to be done to accurately determine whether a person has Parkinson's is a major factor. Essentially, the disease is easy to misdiagnose.
This makes miracles seem like something out of a supernatural, mythical world.
While I was raised Catholic, I wonder if there is room for miracles in the year 2007. Can modern-day Catholics be genuine in their belief that John Paul can cure disease from beyond the grave?
Sainthood, while a noble idea in that it creates models to guide a Catholic's faith, could be an outdated concept.
Perhaps a new definition of a miracle would make the idea easier to swallow.
Julie Baker a State News intern. Reach her at bakerju6@msu.edu.
