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05/13/2005:

"Pope sets predecessor on road to sainthood in record 26 days"

Pope Benedict yesterday revealed that he had set his predecessor, John Paul II, on the road to possible sainthood just 26 days after the late pontiff's death.
Yesterday's announcement - in Latin - that the late pope was to be considered for beatification, the stepping stone to sainthood, broke all records. At least five years are meant to elapse after the death of a candidate before the Vatican initiates the necessary procedures.

The only other so-called "dispensation" since the rule was introduced in 1983 was for Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was beatified two years ago. But, in her case, it took more than a year for the Vatican to agree to an exception.

The Pope also yesterday resolved the most pressing staff issue in his in-basket with the appointment of a Californian to take over from him as the Roman Catholic church's doctrinal "policeman". As archbishop of progressive San Francisco, William Levada has been at the leading edge of the church's often awkward encounters with social change.

The purpose of the five-year rule is to let passions cool. Never has that seemed more necessary than in the case of John Paul II, who was cheered to the grave last month by a crowd chanting "Sant-o, Sant-o" ("Saint, Saint") and holding up banners demanding his immediate canonisation.

The Pope timed his announcement to coincide with the anniversary of what John Paul considered was his miraculous survival of an as sassination attempt in 1981. In his last book, published in February, the late pontiff said it was "just as if someone guided" the bullet that narrowly missed killing him.
Full: guardian.co.uk

Well there's two ways of looking at that.

There are no time limits to the processes of beatification and canonisation. Mother Teresa's beatification, which took less than five years, was the fastest in modern times.

St Anthony, the Portuguese saint who is the patron of the forgetful, was canonised within a year of his death in 1231. But other revered figures have been stuck for centuries at the intermediate stage, which allows them to be described as "blessed".

A Vatican department will now be charged with gathering evidence of the late pontiff's holiness. It will also be on the lookout for miracles ascribed to him since his death.

One each is required for beatification and canonisation. Miracles said to have been performed during his life do not count, because what is required is evidence of the candidate's intercession with God in heaven.

The last pope to be canonised was Pius X who died in 1914 and was made a saint 40 years later. He was credited with the miraculous cure of two nuns.

One of Pope Benedict's first moves following his election last month was to reappoint all John Paul's outgoing team of departmental chiefs. That still left open the job of prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the third-ranked post in the Vatican which he held for 23 years.

In choosing Archbishop Levada, the Pope has obtained the services of a conservative with an intimate knowledge of a church that most in the Vatican regard as recklessly wayward. Benedict has made it clear he hopes to forge closer links with other Christians and the 68-year-old Californian has the added advantage of having wide practical experience of contacts with Anglicans and Orthodox alike.

He has also argued publicly for the church to take a more honest stance on the child-abuse scandals that have rocked US Catholicism, but he has been accused of failing to practise what he preaches.

A group representing molestation victims said his appointment was "insensitive and unwise". The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said: "Levada has been slow to act, harsh to victims and committed to secrecy."

Last year, lawyers representing abuse claimants in his former archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, questioned his handling of disciplinary proceedings against two priests in the 1990s. One was returned to parish duties. Portland became the first US archdiocese to file for bankruptcy because of debts incurred settling priest abuse claims. Many related to events between 1986 and 1995 when Levada was archbishop.