Venerable John Paul the Great

Local friends have recently returned to Scarborough from Poland where they have been visiting their son at university there. They brought me literature and souvenirs from the birthplace of John Paul II and the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Sacrifice in Wadowice. The Holy Father Benedict XVI, addressed the faithful on Wadowice market square on 27th May 2006:

"I am overcome with emotion, now, that I have come to the place where my great Predecessor, the Servant of God, John Paul II was born, where he lived as a child and a young man. On the route of this Polish pilgrimage, which follows in the footsteps of John Paul II, I could not have missed Wadowice. I wanted to stop in Wadowice in places in which his faith was born and then matured, I wanted to stop to pray with you for his soon canonization."

Swift sainthood for John Paul II, says Pope

Pope Benedict said yesterday that his predecessor, John Paul II, was quickly heading towards sainthood at a Mass to commemorate the second anniversary of his death.

At the Mass at St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, The Pope said: "He was a Servant of God, this is what we will call him as he speedily progresses towards beatification."

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun who believes she was miraculously cured of Parkinson's disease by John Paul II's intervention, was among a crowd of thousands at St Peter's.

The Pope said his predecessor's death at Easter reminded the world of the central message of John Paul II's life. "His love for Christ was without reserve or limit. The perfume of his love filled our house, the Church." He said John Paul II had touched "every region of the world".

Earlier, at a service at St John Lateran church in Rome, the first step in John Paul II's road to sainthood was officially closed. The Vatican accepted several black metal chests of evidence of John Paul II's holiness, tied with red ribbons and sealed in wax with the stamp of the Diocese of Rome.

"Certainly he was a saint, he was the living gospel," said Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, the head of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, who will now examine the case.

Cardinal Martins said that the late pope would have wanted the Church to follow all the normal stages before pronouncing him a saint. "If I was John Paul, I would want a rigorous examination. We all want him to be venerated at the altar, but according to canonical law," he said.

There have been growing demands to shortcut the normal process and declare John Paul II a saint instantly.