Pope Benedict XVI on Friday signed a decree submitted by a Vatican commission that officially attributed late pope John Paul II his first miracle.According to the ANSA news agency, John Paul II will be beatified on May 1 after the Vatican commission approved the miracle earlier this week. The decree signed by his successor was the last step before sainthood.
Pope Benedict will personally preside over the beatification ceremony as informed by Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. John Paul II, the Polish pope, died on April 2, 2005, at 84 years of age.
The miracle attributed to the Polish pope was unanimously confirmed on Tuesday by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. A French nun, Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, was miraculously cured of Parkinson's disease through the intervention of John Paul II.
Sister Simon-Pierre testified that she had dreamed of the late pope shortly before recovering. The Vatican has received thousands of reports of alleged miracles attributed to John Paul II.
However, the Vatican only recognized and attributed the miracle of the French nun's recovering. Vatican authorities decided to use the nun's case for John Paul's beatification despite reports indicating that the alleged miracle did not happen.
A Polish newspaper reported that the French nun did not suffer from Parkinson's disease, but from a similar illness which was not terminal. This information that surfaced in March 2010 delayed the beatification process for almost a year.
The Vatican then ordered a commission of medical experts and theologians to study the case. The commission later confirmed the miracle and enacted the decree which was signed on Friday.
One miracle is needed for the Catholic Church to accord beatification, whereas two miracles are required for sainthood. John Paul II's beatification process had been peculiar as pope Benedict waived a rule requiring a five-year wait before the start of the process to speed up the beatification.
John Paul II's body will be moved up from the crypt in St Peter's to the Chapel of St Sebastian near Michelangelo's famous Pieta' statue before the beatification.
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