Diocesan part of Pope John Paul II's sainthood cause to close April 2

By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service

ROME (CNS) -- The diocesan phase of the investigation into the life and holiness of Pope John Paul II will close officially April 2, the second anniversary of the pope's death.

Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar for the Diocese of Rome, announced March 10 the end of the diocesan phase of the process for the late pope's beatification and canonization.

The April 2 ceremony will take place in the context of a brief prayer service; Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to celebrate a memorial Mass later that evening in St. Peter's Basilica.

The end of the diocesan phase of a sainthood cause means that the cause's promoter has interviewed all of the eyewitnesses he felt needed to be heard and has examined all of the candidate's writings. In addition, a panel of historians has written a report on the candidate's actions and writings in the historical context in which he lived.

While the documentation will be handed over to the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes after the April 2 ceremony, the promoter and his assistants still must prepare the official "positio," or position paper, arguing that Pope John Paul heroically lived the Christian virtues.

Particularly with a pope who wrote and spoke so much, the "positio" is expected to be thousands of pages long.

Normally in order for a beatification to take place, a separate report must be prepared and accepted recognizing a miracle attributed to the candidate's intervention.