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April 9, 2007 • VOL. 45, NO. 7 • Oakland, CA
First phase
of sainthood cause
of Pope John Paul II concludes
 |
| Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, a member of the Little
Sisters of Catholic Motherhood, believes she was healed from Parkinson’s
disease through the intercession of Pope John Paul II. CNS PHOTO/ALESSANDRO BIANCHI/REUTERS |
ROME (CNS)
-- With prayers, song and formal oaths in Latin, officials of the Diocese
of Rome concluded the initial phase of the process for the canonization
of Pope John Paul II.
During this phase, more than 120 people who knew Pope John Paul were interviewed
about his actions and character, and studies were conducted on his ministry,
the way he handled suffering and how he faced his death, said Cardinal
Camillo Ruini, papal vicar of Rome.
“In the certainty of being loved by God and in the joy of responding
to that love,” the late pope “found the meaning, unity and
aim of his life,” Cardinal Ruini said during a prayer service in
the Basilica of St. John Lateran April 2, the second anniversary of Pope
John Paul’s death.
The documents from the investigation were placed in four chests, latched,
tied with a red ribbon, then sealed with red wax. They will be delivered
to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes for further study.
“The pope suffered in his flesh and he suffered in his spirit, finding
himself increasingly obliged to reduce his commitments,” Cardinal
Ruini said. His occasional “signs of impatience” were not
the result of pain, but of his frustration at not being able to continue
the ministry to which he felt called, the cardinal added.
Cardinal Ruini described Pope John Paul as a man of continuous, intense
prayer, “concrete and radical poverty” and great freedom,
which allowed him to stand up to Poland’s communist government.
His love for God was lived as love for human beings, leading the pope
to be an insistent voice for peace and for the defense of human life from
conception to natural death, the cardinal said.
Among those attending the ceremony were Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz
of Krakow, Pope John Paul’s personal secretary for almost 40 years;
Polish President Lech Kaczynski; and Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, the 46-year-old
French nun who believes she was healed of Parkinson’s disease through
the intervention of Pope John Paul.
Celebrating a televised Mass early in the morning at Pope John Paul’s
tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica, Cardinal Dziwisz called the late pope
an “extraordinary witness” of Christ.
“John Paul II was a member of the friends of Jesus, that is, the
group of saints,” Cardinal Dziwisz said.
“The people of God clearly recognize his sanctity,” he said.
Cardinal Dziwisz and others have pointed out that Pope Benedict XVI could
beatify or even canonize Pope John Paul immediately, without waiting for
the Congregation for Saints’ Causes to conclude its work.
Portuguese Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, congregation prefect, said that
unless or until he hears otherwise from the pope the congregation will
continue the process according to established Church law.
