Pope Benedict XVI advanced the sainthood causes of Pope John Paul II and Pope Pius XII, declaring that both had lived lives of “heroic virtues,” said Catholic News Service.
In signing the decrees Dec. 19, the pope confirmed the recommendations of Vatican officials who have studied the causes for several years. Both popes can be beatified once a miracle is attributed to their intercession.
That does not mean, however, that both popes would be beatified together. There is no Vatican timetable for verification of a miracle, and in some cases sainthood causes have waited many years for that step.
In 2005, Pope Benedict set Pope John Paul on the fast track to beatification by waiving the normal five-year waiting period for the introduction of his sainthood cause. That seemed to respond to the “Santo subito!” (“Sainthood now!”) banners that were held aloft at Pope John Paul’s funeral.
In April, the church will mark the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul’s death. The initial diocesan phase of his sainthood cause was completed in April 2007.
In November 2008, a team of theological consultors to the Congregation for Saints’ Causes began studying the 2,000-page “positio,” the document that made the case for Pope John Paul’s beatification. After their favorable judgment, the cardinal and bishop members of the sainthood congregation met last month and gave their go-ahead for the decree of heroic virtues.
The presumed miracle for the Polish-born pontiff, meanwhile, is being studied in a five-step process that involves medical experts, a medical board, theological consultors, the members of the congregation and, finally, Pope Benedict.
According to church officials, the Vatican’s sainthood congregation had assembled the necessary documents for Pope Pius’s beatification cause in 2004. Subsequent evaluations by historians, theologians and a panel of cardinals and bishops resulted in the recommendation in 2007 to proceed with the advancement of the beatification process.
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