VATICAN: In a not unexpected move, Pope Benedict XVI yesterday announced the initiation of the beatification cause of his predecessor, John Paul II.
Speaking to priests from the archdiocese of Rome in the Basilica of San Giovanni Laterano, Pope Benedict said he had decided to waive those norms which impose a five-year waiting period between death and the initiation of the sainthood process.
He made his announcement just five weeks after his predecessor's death and on the day marking the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II by Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca.
The Pope's decision is not entirely without precedent. In 1999 John Paul II himself dispensed with the five-year rule in relation to Mother Teresa of Calcutta, but he did so two years after her death.
The Pope's announcement, made in Latin, was greeted with a sustained round of applause from the Rome clergy.
While the early timing of the announcement may represent a mild surprise, the decision itself was widely anticipated.
Such was the impact both of the momentous pontificate and of the charismatic personality of John Paul II that his death immediately prompted calls for his canonisation.
During the funeral service in St Peter's Square last month, pilgrims held up banners reading "Santo subito" (Make him a saint now).
Even though John Paul II may now be fairly described as on a fast track to sainthood, the process of beatification and subsequent canonisation remains complex and lengthy. Handled by the Vatican's Congregation for the Cause of Saints, it involves the detailed preparation of the case sustaining the "life of virtue" of the "servant of God".
A tribunal nominated by the congregation will examine the candidate's formal writings as well as other documents relating to his or her life and work, while it will also hear formal testimony from people who knew the candidate.
The final step on the road to beatification is the formal ratification of a miracle attributed to the candidate. Within days of John Paul II's death last month several "miraculous cures" were attributed to him.
As expected, Pope Benedict yesterday nominated the Archbishop of San Francisco, Mgr William Levada, as his successor in the role of Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Benedict's decision was significant because only a few Americans have held top posts in Vatican departments. It also showed a vote of confidence in the American church's efforts to deal with the sexual abuse scandals of 2002.
Mgr Levada served on a US-Vatican mixed commission that worked out the American norms on how to deal with priests accused of sexual abuse as well as on a task force on the US church's response to dissenting Catholic politicians.
But Snap, a US sexual abuse victims group, said in a statement they were "very disappointed". They said Mgr Levada had been "slow to act, harsh to victims and committed to secrecy".
Mgr Levada worked at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican from 1976 to 1982 and was part of the staff when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict, was appointed as its head in 1981.