Vatican City - The Roman Catholic Church will begin today the process that may recognize the late Pope John Paul II as a saint in what could be one of the fastest canonizations in church history.
Pope Benedict XVI, John Paul's successor, last month declared the canonization process for John Paul could go ahead immediately, dispensing with a five-year waiting period set out in church rules.
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who serves as the Pope's Vicar, or representative for the diocese of Rome, will preside over the start of the beatification and canonization process at a ceremony at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome at 7 p.m., according to announcement of the diocese Web site.
``It could be one of the quickest sainthood procedures ever since it's starting so soon,'' said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, an official in the Vatican statistics office. ``Still, nothing will be take for granted and the process won't be easy or short.''
Pope John Paul II can be declared a saint if Church authorities can attribute at least two miracles to him that occurred after his death on April 2 at age 84. Pilgrims in Saint Peter's Square expressed their opinion on the matter by waving signs saying ``Santo Subito,'' or ``Sainthood Now,'' during John Paul's funeral mass April 8.
Devil's Advocate
John Paul changed the process in 1983 to limit the role of the so-called devil's advocate in challenging candidates for sainthood. As a result, John Paul became the most prolific ``maker'' of saints, overseeing 500 canonizations. That's a record for any pope and more than the tally for all pontiffs of the last four centuries combined. Prior to the changes, it typically took decades to declare a saint.
The Church last waved the five-year waiting period in the case of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, whose ``cause'' began in 1999, less than two years after her death. She was beatified, the first major acknowledgement of holiness in the process, in October 2003 and has yet to be canonized as a saint.
The canonization process is run from the diocese where the proposed saint died. That means John Paul's case for canonization will be made from Rome, where, as pope, he also served as bishop during his 26 years papacy, the third longest in history.
The process to review John Paul's life and determine whether his virtues made him a saint will cover all of John Paul's writings and take in his time as bishop of Krakow, Monsignor Vincenzo Zinno at Saint John Lateran said in a telephone interview.
Politics
The findings of the initial investigation in Rome and Krakow will then be presented to the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, according to the Vatican Web site. The Congregation will first decide whether to beatify John Paul, declaring him blessed, before moving on to declare him a saint.
The start of John Paul's canonization process comes as Italian newspapers question the influence of the Catholic Church on Italian politics under Pope Benedict XVI. John Paul was a media savvy pontiff who expressed the church's views on issues spanning from Communism in the late 1980s to the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Benedict didn't hesitate in weighing in Italy's political debate as church leaders called on Italians to abstain from voting in a referendum on artificial insemination and whether to ease Italy's fertility treatment laws. The referendum, held June 12th and 13th, failed to reach the minimum number of votes to be valid, leaving the law unchanged.
Pope John Paul was the first pope ever to visit Italy's parliament. Benedict last week made his first official visit to Italy's President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who had encouraged Italians to vote in the referendum. In his speech, Ciampi defended the separation of church and state.
While at the Quirinal Palace, the former home to the papacy until the founding of the Italian state over a century ago, Benedict also met Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the heads of Italy's lower and upper houses of parliament.