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Sainthood cause begins for Pope John Paul II

ROME - The Roman Catholic Church placed Pope John Paul II on the path to sainthood Tuesday during a joyous ceremony at a Roman basilica - the fastest start to a beatification process in memory for a man many considered a saint long before he died.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, John Paul's vicar for Rome, presided over the Latin-filled ritual launching the beatification "cause" at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

During the ceremony attended by cardinals, archbishops and other faithful, key officials stood to recite an oath to keep their work secret and to refuse any gifts that might corrupt the process.

The faithful remained silent during the oaths, and some in the crowd wept. But once the cause was declared officially open, applause rang out, Polish and Vatican flags fluttered in the pews and there were chants of "Giovanni Paolo" and "Santo Subito!" or "Sainthood Immediately!"

Ruini was interrupted repeatedly by applause as he read a lengthy testimony to John Paul, tracing his life from his birth in 1920 through his years as a priest and bishop in communist Poland to his globe-trotting papacy.

"Any words that I can now add ... seem superfluous, so great and universal is the knowledge of him and so profound and unanimous the conviction of his saintliness," Ruini said. "We ask the Lord, with all our heart, that the cause of beatification and canonization that has begun this evening reaches its completion very soon."

Pope Benedict XVI announced May 13 that he was waiving the five-year waiting period and allowing the church's saintmaking process to begin immediately for the Polish-born John Paul, who died April 2 after nearly 27 years guiding the church.

It was only the second such waiver in recent history: John Paul placed Mother Teresa on the fast track for sainthood in 1998. But her cause didn't begin until a year after her death, and although she was beatified in 2003, she is not yet a saint.

In placing John Paul on a fast track, Benedict was responding to calls for him to be canonized - including chants of "Santo Subito!" that erupted during John Paul's April 8 funeral Mass.

Church officials have said the process will take its regular course, with the investigation into the pope's life and writings, interviews with key witnesses and investigation of any possible miracles attributed to his intercession. One miracle must be verified for him to be beatified; a second for him to be made a saint.

The Diocese of Rome has made no attempts to hide its desire for the case to proceed, reporting that more than 20,000 people had visited the official Web site for the cause, and that 100 e-mails a day were arriving testifying to John Paul's virtues.

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 01:20:05]