Zooming toward sainthood

last updated 8 January 2015

Rome

Pope Benedict tossed millennia of Catholic tradition aside this week to begin beatifying Pope John Paul II, who died just six weeks ago. Traditionally, a person must be dead for at least five years before beatification, the first step toward sainthood, can begin. Pope John Paul II himself first broke that tradition, when he fast-tracked Mother Teresa’s beatification, beginning just a year after her death in 1997. It will still be some years before John Paul II is declared a saint. For beatification, the Vatican must attribute one miracle to the candidate; sainthood requires a second miracle.