The process to make Pope John Paul II a saint has been delayed by the decision of a Vatican medical commission not to recognize an alleged miracle attributed to the late pontiff, an Italian newspaper reported Thursday.John Paul, who died in 2005, is currently a candidate for beatification, the last step before being canonised, or recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church.
But before a person is beatified and given the title "blessed," by the pope, the Vatican's saint-making department must obtain proof that a miracle has taken place with the candidate's intercession.
According to the website of Rome-based daily, La Repubblica, the Vatican medical commission has rejected the case involving a French nun who was apparently cured from Parkinson's disease after she prayed to him to ask for God's help.
The commission found that the nun's Parkinson's diagnosis was not certain and that in any case, patients with certain forms of the disease - a degenerative nervous system disorder which afflicted John Paul himself -have been known to make a full recovery, La Repubblica said.
The commission will now ask to review one of the other 271 possible miracles that have been attributed to the Polish-born pontiff, La Repubblica said.
Chants of "Santo subito! (Saint immediately) and banners bearing the same slogan rose amongst the hundreds of thousands who attended the funeral of John Paul, whose death ended one of the longest and most eventful pontificates in modern history.
A month after John Paul's death, his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, put him on the fast track by waiving church rules that normally impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate's death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can start.
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