The Vatican today refused to either "confirm or deny" reports in the Polish media that the late Pope John Paul II would be beatified five years after his death, in April next year - the penultimate step toward sainthood. Commenting on a report in the Polish daily Dziennik Father Tadeusz Pieronek, the "postulator" for John Paul's beatification cause in the diocese of Krakow, said it was "wonderful news".
Earlier this month Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the archbishop of Krakow, who was John Paul's long serving secretary, said the beatification process would be concluded "within a few months".
However reports said the Congregation for the Causes of Saints had speeded up the process at the wish of Pope Benedict XVI, who waived the normal lengthy procedures after his predecessor's death and allowed the beatification to go ahead on a fast track.
At John Paul's funeral in April 2005 many of the faithful held up placards calling for him to be made a "Santo Subito" - a saint immediately.
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(Source: TTUK)