Sainthood Cause Opened for +John Paul the Great

As predicted here just a few weeks ago (April 2nd) and as I've been clamoring for these past two decades, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, today announced that he will forego the rules (requiring a five years waiting period before beatification cases can be opened) -- and put Pope John Paul the Great on the fast road towards Sainthood.

Fittingly, 40 full days of Orthodox Christian mourning have now elapsed since his promotion to Glory. READ: "Life After Death - A description of the first 40 days after death" by St. John Maximovitch.

His Holiness just made the brief statement in Latin to a group of priests gathered at St John's Basilica on this 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt against Pope John Paul II. He chose this feastday of Our Lady of Fatima as the date to make the announcement for reasons known to all of us. Pope John Paul II himself deviated from standard Church procedure in 1999, when he opened Mother Teresa's case for sainthood only two years after she died. (She reposed in 1997 and Pope John Paul II beatified her in 2003.) He canonized more saints than all his predecessors in the past 500 years combined.

Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Sainthood Causes, remarked that Pope John Paul II dispensed with two years of the five-year waiting period for Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, while Pope Benedict XVI today dispensed of the entire waiting period in the case of his predecessor.

I still think that this Pope will bypass the time-honored process of researching a candidate's life, having it judged by cardinals, bishops and theologians and expedite him to Sainthood right away. Acclamation from the Faithful (as in the canonization of our Mission Apostolate patron, St. Anthony of Padua, a year after his death) will cause that same Church recognition.

Now two verified miracles need to be attributed to his intercession. Already: 1.) An American Jew cured of a brain tumor just hours after attending Mass in 1998 with Pope John Paul II. 2.) A Mexican boy stricken with leukemia (who released the doves) who recovered in 1990 after a Papal kiss. 3.) Francesco Cardinal Marchisano who regained his ability to speak after Pope John Paul II touched his throat following surgery, etc., etc... However, more such miracles must now come AFTER his death to be credited to his cause.

This morning, Pope Benedict also named the Archbishop of San Francisco, +William Joseph Levada, as the new Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith which His Holiness previously shepherded for more than 20 years. Archbishop Levada, a theologian, worked with then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger at the congregation from 1976 to 1982. He's the perfect street priest for the job having walked his Los Angeles beat for five years.