Pope John Paul II will be beatified after Easter.

Current pontiff Benedict XVI certifies that a miracle
healing attributed to John Paul is genuine. The
finding puts John Paul closer to sainthood, for
which a second miracle is required.
Reporting from Manchester, England — The late
Pope John Paul II will be beatified this spring, the
Vatican announced Friday after the current
pontiff, Benedict XVI, certified that his predecessor
had met the requirements.
The move puts the former pope a step closer to
sainthood on what is already an unusually
accelerated timetable that Benedict launched
within weeks of John Paul's death almost six
years ago.
The Vatican said Benedict had approved findings
by the church that John Paul had performed a
miracle after his death, a prerequisite for
beatification. A nun who suffered from
Parkinson's disease, as did the late pope, said she
was healed of her affliction after praying to John
Paul shortly after he died.
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The beatification is to take place May 1, the first
Sunday after Easter, the Vatican said.
The decision to elevate John Paul, who inspired
millions worldwide with his tough stance against
Communism and his resilience after a 1981
assassination attempt, is a spot of good news for
the Roman Catholic Church, which has been
battered by countless allegations of sexual abuse
by priests, nuns and other religious workers.
Many of those acts of abuse were alleged to have
occurred during John Paul's 27-year papacy. But
much of the blame for the church's slow and
largely defensive response to the complaints has
now shifted to today's Vatican.
After John Paul's death on April 2, 2005,
mourners and pilgrims at his funeral in St. Peter's
Square waved signs calling for "sainthood right
now," in a mark of their devotion. Weeks later,
Benedict said he would immediately open the
process leading to canonization, overriding rules
that dictate a five-year wait after a person dies.
At the end of 2009, Benedict gave formal
recognition of John Paul's "heroic virtues" and
granted him the title of "venerable." After his
beatification, the late pontiff will be known as
"blessed."
For sainthood, a second confirmed miracle is
required.
Reports surfaced last year that at least some
church investigators were doubtful of claims by
Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, to have
been cured of Parkinson's through John Paul's
intercession.
But the panel overseeing such investigations
concluded that the nun's recovery from the
degenerative disease had no other explanation --
in other words, that it was a genuine miracle.
Although accelerated procedures toward
sainthood are unusual, they are not without
precedent. John Paul himself put Mother Teresa
on the "fast track" to beatification after her death
in 1997. She was beatified in 2003.


Source: Http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-john-paul-beatify-20110115,0,1088918.story