Vatican officially opens canonization process for Pope John Paul II

Published: 2005-06-28

ROME (CNS) -- The process to beatify and canonize Pope John Paul II opened June 28 with an evening prayer service attended by cardinals, bishops, lay people and representatives of the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarchate of Constantinople. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar of Rome, presided over the ceremonial opening of the Rome Diocese's investigation into "the life, virtues and fame of holiness of the servant of God, Pope John Paul II." He began by thanking Pope Benedict XVI for accepting "the choral and ardent pleas raised by the people of God" to waive the normal five-year waiting period before Pope John Paul's cause could begin. While the June 28 ceremony was the official beginning of the process, it was clear much work already had been done. Cardinal Ruini had appointed a Polish priest working in the Rome tribunal, Msgr. Slawomir Oder, to be the postulator of the cause.

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