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Pope John Paul II's closest aide said in an interview on Saturday that he hoped the late pontiff would be made a saint during World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany next month. "Everything is possible, but I don't know if it would be opportune," Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz said. But he said the Cologne setting would be perfect because "no one loved young people like the pope and they loved him." "It would be wonderful for a German pope to canonize a Polish pope in Cologne," he said. Dziwisz also said Pope Benedict XVI will visit Poland next spring. "He has...

Sometime in the next few days, Andrea Ambrosi, a Vatican lawyer specializing in the arcane ways of canonization, will leave New Orleans for Rome with a precious cargo: 2,918 pages of memories, testimonies and historical and theological arguments in support of sainthood for his new client, Henriette Delille, the 19th century woman of color who spent a lifetime ministering to slaves in antebellum New Orleans. The thick files are the product of 16 years of prayers, promotion and scholarly research by modern admirers of Delille in and out of the Sisters of the Holy Family, the religious order she founded....

The Catholic Church has launched the official process which may culminate in a sainthood for the late Pope John Paul II with a service in Rome. The mass to nominate John Paul for beatification marks the penultimate step on the path to becoming a saint. Members of a special commission - including a latter-day "Devil's Advocate" whose job is to challenge any claim - swore secrecy and probity. The commission will sift possible evidence of a miracle by the late Pope. Fast-track During the mass at the cathedral of St John Lateran, the words of Cardinal Camillo Ruini were interrupted...

THE Roman Catholic Church will start examining the life and virtues of the late Pope John Paul II - already hailed as a saint by many in his flock - in a speeded-up process that could lead the pontiff to sainthood. The diocese of Rome, of which the pope is the bishop, will open the beatification process in a solemn ceremony at Saint John in Lateran presided by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the vicar of Rome. The inquiry will examine "the life, virtues, and reputation of sainthood of the servant of God John Paul II." Although the Church traditionally waits five...

Pope Benedict XVI has temporarily blocked the beatification of a French priest and appointed a commission to investigate the priest's anti-Semitic writings, drawing praise from Jewish leaders who called it a sign of the new pope's sensitivity to other religions.Last December, Pope John Paul II announced plans to beatify Leon Dehon on April 24. The ceremony would have been a major step toward sainthood for Dehon, who lived from 1843 to 1925 and founded the Priests of the Sacred Heart, a religious order that today has nearly 2,400 members around the world.In February, however, a French historian drew attention to...

Loretto, PA., Jun. 10, 2005 (CNA) - A Russian prince who left his wealth behind to come to America and be the first priest ordained in the United States has received his first nod from the Vatican on his road to sainthood.The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has named Fr. Demetrius Gallitzin a Servant of God, announced Bishop Joseph Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown on Monday.  Fr. Gallitzin left Europe at age 29 and entered a Baltimore monastery in 1795. He became the first priest to be ordained in the U.S. After his ordination, he used his inherited wealth to...

Pope Benedict XVI said today he had opened the process for the sainthood of Pope John Paul II. The move overrides the usual five-year waiting period following the death of a possible candidate. The pope made the announcement in Latin during a meeting at the Basilica of St John Lateran with the Roman clergy. The announcement came on the anniversary of an 1981 assassination attempt against John Paul in St Peter’s Square at the hands of a Turkish gunman. Benedict’s announcement drew a standing ovation from the Roman priests.

Pope Benedict XVI put his predecessor on the fast track for sainthood Friday and appointed San Francisco Archbishop William Levada as his successor as guardian of church doctrine, the highest Vatican office ever held by an American.

The Pope starts Wojtyla beatification The Pope has arranged the immediate beginning of the cause of beatification of Pope Wojtyla, dispensing from the wait of the five years from the dead women previewed from the code. Benedict XVI has announced personally the roman clergy, reading, in Latin, a communication in such sense of cardinal Josè Saraiva Martins, prefetto of the Congregation for the causes of knows to you. The communication has been received a longest applause of present clergymen, raised in feet, therefore like the Pope and Ruini cardinal.

Blessed Carlos Manuel Cecilio Rodríguez Santiago (1918-1963)Folks, the passing of Pope John Paul the Great has created a veritable memorabilia boom in stores. Commemorative issues of magazines, books, pictures, and DVDs abound. Riding that wave, last night I purchased a National Geographic documentary entitled Inside the Vatican. They featured a beatification ceremony which happened to be the one in which Puerto Rico's first blessed, Carlos "Charlie" (or "Chali" as he was called in Puerto Rico) Rodríguez was beatified by Pope John Paul the Great. It was a blessed coincidence. You've probably noticed Bl. Charlie's picture the margin space to the...

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Cardinals meeting daily in Rome to discuss the main issues facing the Roman Catholic Church ahead of a conclave next week to elect a pope have signed a petition asking a future pope to "accelerate" the beatification of John Paul II, a report said. The petition was signed by "many" but not all of the 134 cardinals present at Monday's meeting, according to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera. The prelates have clearly caught the popular mood following the funeral mass for the late pope on Friday, when some in the massive crowd began chanting "santo,...

VATICAN CITY -- An American Jew cured of a brain tumor after attending Mass with Pope John Paul II. A Mexican boy stricken with leukemia who recovered after a papal kiss. Even a cardinal who regained his ability to speak after John Paul touched his throat. AP Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Pope John Paul II Italian newspapers have been rife with reports of alleged miracles attributed to Pope John Paul II, fueling speculation he may soon be put on the path to sainthood. Vatican rules, though, are clear: For a miracle to be considered in the saint-making process, it has...

VATICAN CITY, APRIL 10, 2005 (Zenit.org).- A cardinal who worked closely with John Paul II says that he was once cured of a serious throat condition after the Pope prayed for him and touched the affected area. Cardinal Francesco Marchisano, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, revealed details of the incident on Saturday, the second day of the nine days of Masses celebrated for the Holy Father's eternal rest. The Italian cardinal, a friend of Karol Wojtyla's since 1962, spoke of his previously unpublicized healing during the Mass he celebrated in the basilica with Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope's personal secretary....

wish I'd met him in person, but despite the lack of direct human connection, I feel I knew him. I also know there was something unique about this man, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church John Paul II. Was it his words? There's no doubt he was an educated man and a talented writer. He could reach the audiences to which he spoke, whether in person or in print. He had a way of choosing the direct path to our heart, our mind, our conscience and our soul. This was a man who was comfortable speaking to millions of people...

VATICAN CITY - The private secretary of the late Pope John Paul II saw the pontiff perform what could be claimed as a miracle, one of the key stages to becoming a saint, Italy’s La Stampa newspaper reported Sunday.It quoted Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz as relating how an American who was seriously ill received communion from the pope, and was cured.The incident happened in 1998, but Dziwisz, who was John Paul II’s closest confidant for 40 years, spoke of the incident three years ago to reporters, who revealed it Sunday.According to the report, Dziwisz told how an acquaintance had asked him...

Apr. 8, 2005 - With presidents and kings looking on, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims in St. Peter's Square sang, applauded and chanted for the church to declare John Paul II a saint as the pope was laid to rest Friday in an unprecedented gathering of the mighty and the meek. John Paul, who spread his message of peace to all corners of the planet, was buried among his predecessors back to the apostle Peter while tens of millions followed the funeral rites in their homes, in overflowing churches and on giant television screens set up in fields, sports stadiums...

Pope John Paul II, while on a visit in Mexico in 1990, has reportedly healed a boy with cancer? The boy who was diagnosed with leukemia, was declared terminally ill by doctors. He is now 19 years old and is in good health. During the Pope's visit, his parents pushed themselves through the crowd and presented their then 3 year old son to the Pontiff's arms and asked the Pope to bless him. Then John Paul whispered something to the boy. To the doctors' surprise afterwards, he was now cured from the dreaded disease. The doctors attest to the miraculous...

Paris, France, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The Vatican cleared the way Monday for the first German clergyman to be beatified for his courageous opposition against Nazi mass murder. In the presence of Pope John Paul II, the Congregation for Causes of Saints promulgated a decree linking a miracle to Cardinal Clemens August Count von Galen (1978-1946) who in 1941 publicly denounced Hitler's euthanasia program. Under this policy, some 70,000 retarded and incurably ill Germans were murdered - or "given the coup de grace," as the Nazis called this euphemistically. On Aug. 3, 1941, von Galen thundered from the pulpit of...

CANDIDATES for sainthood will be exonerated from the requirement to have performed a miracle under guidelines being considered by the Pope. Already under fire from some Roman Catholics for running a “saint factory”, the Pope is preparing to overturn a centuries-old rule that candidates for canonisation must have performed “medically inexplicable” posthumous miracles. The Pope, 84, has created 482 saints in his 26 years as pontiff — more than all his predecessors put together — and has beatified 1,337 people. He believes that “latter-day saints” offer a much-needed example at a time when Christianity is under threat from secularism and...

Kateri sainthood could take a miracle Supporters fear time is running out for Indian woman to be canonized AURIESVILLE -- Catholics worldwide have long prayed for a local Indian maiden to be made a saint.All that's needed is a miracle. Time may be running out though.Since Pope John Paul II elevated Kateri Tekakwitha to the ranks of "blessed," in June 1980, the "Lily of the Mohawks" has been a step away from becoming the first Native American woman to achieve sainthood.The Pope is strongly behind her. But at 84 and in frail health, the chances he'll be around to canonize...