years has passed since this square of st. peter s was packed for the funeral of pope john paul ii. the be at fix process had been underway for that amount of time and, normally the process for beatification or canonization cannot begin until five years after the death of the person in question. the waiting period is to assure the person had in fact an enduring reputation for sanctity among the faithful. john paul ii waived three years of the five year waiting period for blessed mother teresa and for benedict waived five years for the blessing of john paul ii. and, you recall, during the
his personal suffering. at one point the pontiff said he was like a. in dealing with parkinson s disease and what we witnessed near the end and what he suffered. six years ago, people said he should either retire or go to a monastery or a hospital, but he his looks make us uncomfortable and he s not physically able to do what we knew him to do at one time and let s not look at this sick old man but that was his whole point, don t turn away, i am still john paul and, i am a channel of god an worthy of dignity and respect and it was a great lesson for those people who watch this pope like that, and was suffering from physical or emotional illness an wonders, is my life, still valuable. eric: now, let s listen in:
at the same time that same congregation has a whole panel of medical doctors, not all of whom are catholic, let me say, and their job is to tell these religious leaders. to tell the department head whether or not scientifically, medically if there can be a medical explanation, and there s a pretty good separation of forms here, not theologians, telling doctors it s a miracle, just the opposite. that s so interesting. and lauren green, the religious correspondent has been in rome and lauren, your thoughts and what we can expect to come as one would think that pope john paul ii, the blessed pope john paul will be headed toward sainthood. well, as the commentator said, many believe he was already a saint and taking the world time to catch up to it. long time personal secretary, cardinal said that he died a
in his testament, the new blessed wrote, when on october 16, 1978, the conclave of cardinals chose john paul ii, primate of poland, the cardinal said to me the task of the new pope will be to lead the church into the third millennium. and the pope added, i would like once again to express my gratitude to the holy spirit for the great gift of the second vatican council to which, together with the whole church, and especially, with the whole episcopant, i feel indebted. i am convinced that it will long be granted to the new generations to draw from the treasures that the council of the 20th century has lavished
as we see that marvellous portrait of john paul ii, that captures his vitality, his faith, his spirit, what pope benedict calls his humility, across the charisma. this morning, we ve been witnessing the historic moment of beatification of pope john paul ii, the next step toward sainthood. and with us, contributor, father jonathan morris who was at the vatican and your sense as we listen to the hymn do not be afraid written in honor of this event and the message that the pontiff left us, to not be afraid, of christianity, of faith, of