Sainthood slowdown
March 4, 2010
The Italian and Polish press report that the late Pope John Paul II's case for sainthood may face delays because a miracle attributed to him will not be recognized by the Catholic Church.
A French nun had claimed that she was cured of Parkinson's disease after praying to John Paul and asking him to intercede on her behalf. But the Italian daily La Repubblica said in Thursday's online edition that the Vatican's medical commission determined that the woman's diagnosis was not fully confirmed, and that some people who have certain variants of the disease have been known to recover spontaneously.
A newspaper in Poland, Rzeczpospolita, had earlier reported that the nun's disease had returned. But that claim was rejected by the priest charged with investigating John Paul's case for beatification, the step which precedes being declared a saint.
Still on the road to sainthood
John Paul, who died in 2005, was put on a fast track to sainthood just a month after his death by his successor, Pope Benedict XVI. The Catholic Church normally requires a waiting period of five years after a potential candidate's death before the process can begin, but this was waived in John Paul's case.
But the case is far from derailed - Vatican investigators can now put forward one of the 271 other reported miracles attributed to John Paul.
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Editor: Susan Houlton