Pope On Saint Fast-Track?

Posters and T-shirts are already declaring it, pilgrims are pushing it, and even cardinals are backing the swelling popular campaign to declare Pope John Paul II a saint.

The Vatican must verify two miracles for John Paul to be canonized, and even then the process can take centuries. But with millions of people paying homage to John Paul, the start of the saint-making machine seems almost inevitable.

The Rev. Peter Gumpel, who is spearheading the cause for sainthood for another pope, Pius XII, said Thursday he thought John Paul was certainly worthy and that it was likely his case would get fast-tracked, like that of Mother Teresa.

"I think there will be a top priority given to this cause," Gumpel said in an interview. "It is well possible, with a view to the importance and the great admiration of the present pope, that procedures will be sped up."

It was John Paul himself who changed the rules and allowed the Vatican to begin the saint-making process for Mother Teresa just one year after she died, instead of the usual five. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and John Paul beatified her in 2003, the last step to possible sainthood.

Gumpel said such fast-track procedures could be applied to the late pope, but he ruled out speculation that John Paul's successor might immediately proceed to canonizing him without first taking the necessary steps to beatify him.

"I think this is downright absurd, and this is not likely to happen," Gumpel said.

Bypassing the time-honored process of researching a candidate's life, having it judged by cardinals, bishops and theologians, and then verifying a miracle "would not do full justice to the man," he said.

Nevertheless, there's a movement in the streets to do just that for the man who created more saints than all his predecessors in the past 500 years combined.

Vendors around Rome are selling T-shirts proclaiming "Saint Karol." A giant poster reading "Grazie Padre Santo," or "Thank You Saint Father" was plastered on Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peter's Square.

And Italian newspapers are already reporting supposed miraculous events attributed to John Paul's intercession — even though he has only been dead for a week and to be valid, the miracle must occur after death.

"The church will decide in time," Vittorio Messori, a leading Catholic author who helped the pope write the 1994 best-selling book "Crossing the Threshold of Hope," wrote in the Corriere della Sera newspaper this week.

"But many have already anticipated the judgment; and the reasons for doing so are not lacking."

He noted that the "cult of saintliness" has already been seen in Poland, where mourners had hoped that John Paul's heart could be displayed for veneration — a sure sign that there is the popular will necessary to push through a saintly cause, he wrote.

"He moved the Berlin Wall. He won over communism. He united not just Poles but the entire Christian world through his words, and this is a miracle," said Ewa Cywinska, 20, a student who was praying Thursday at Saint Ann's church in Warsaw.

"I am certain he will be beatified," Cywinska said.

As far as the Vatican is concerned, Cardinal Angelo Sodano appeared to have jump-started the process Sunday when he called the pope in his written homily "John Paul the Great." The title is usually designated for popes worthy of sainthood, such as Gregory the Great and Leo the Great.

While Sodano didn't use the title when he delivered his homily, Vatican texts are considered official, even if they are not pronounced. Indeed, the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano picked up on it in its following editions, calling the late pope "John Paul II, the Great."

Archbishop Edward Nowak, secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, called John Paul an "extraordinary example" of saints among us during a panel discussion on RAI state television this week that seemed more like an infomercial for John Paul's sainthood than regular programming.

"The saintliness of the pope is in how he led his life, his faith and compassion, day after day," Nowak said.

Chicago Cardinal Francis George said he hadn't heard talk among his fellow cardinals about a fast-track to sainthood for John Paul. But, he said, "That wouldn't surprise me at all," if the process were sped up.

"I think there would be a lot of support for it," George said.

Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski was more resolute: "Definitely," he told the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita when asked if John Paul would be canonized.

If the five-year waiting rule is bypassed, Gumpel said, the Vatican could proceed directly to the beatification procedures: collecting all John Paul's private writings and his published works before he became pope and submitting them to theological experts to determine whether he had written anything heretical.

Then, a commission of historians would be appointed to collect all the documentation concerning his life and sanctity that would be synthesized into volumes for consideration by panels of theologians and cardinals and bishops. Church tribunals would take testimony from witnesses.

If a two-thirds majority of both panels approves the cause, it goes to the pope to decide and sign a decree on the virtues of the candidate.

"Only when this has been done can the discussion begin on a miracle," he said.

Such a long procedure will surely take time, but the new pope could at least let John Paul bypass the estimated 300 cases that are currently waiting for discussion, he said.

"My personal opinion? I think he merits beatification," he said.