“Any other point of view is out of place,” Vatican spokesman Joaquín Navarro Valls told reporters Saturday.
During Friday’s funeral Mass, chants coming from the crowds called for “sainthood now” for John Paul II.
Italian newspapers reported Saturday on the existence of a dossier of miracles attributed to the Pope, but for his beatification, a miracle attributed to his intercession must take place after his death. And a miracle for his canonization must take place after his beatification.
The Church has established that a cause may not be opened for at least five years after the person’s death, so that emotion will not affect the investigations.
A pope has the authority to make exceptions. This is what John Paul II did in the case of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whose cause opened less than five years after her death.
John Paul II proclaimed 1,338 blessed and 482 saints, more than all his predecessors together since 1588, when procedures for these causes were instituted.
