Saint Right Away?

THE CAUSE for the Beatification of the Servant of God, Pope John Paul II, is in its last stages. Only recently a Commission of eight theologians gathered at the Offices of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints at the Vatican to analyse the life, works and writings of Karol Wojtyla in order to give the green light to the last phase of the beatification process. They were directed by the promoter of the Faith, Monsignor Sandro Corradini.



In practice, this Commission must scrutinize the work of the first phase of the process, the so-called ‘diocesan phase’, but above all analyse the proofs of holiness collected and catalogued in a 1,500-page document by the Postulator, that is, by the ‘defensive counsel’ of the cause, Monsignor Slawomir Oder.



If the Commission approves the work of the diocesan tribunal, and that of Msgr. Oder, the Postulator, then the long-awaited day of our late Pope’s beatification should not be too far off. But how close is that day in reality?





Exceptional circumstances





On May 9, 2005, Pope Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor. Normally five years must pass after a person’s death before the beatification process can begin. However, in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, and the one responsible for promoting the cause for canonisation of any person who dies within that diocese, cited ‘exceptional circumstances’ which suggested that the waiting period could be waived. The ‘exceptional circumstances’ may possibly refer to the people’s cries of “Santo Subito!” (Italian for “Saint Right Away”) during our late pontiff’s funeral.



On that occasion, Cardinal Ratzinger had said with inspired voice, “We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house, that he sees us and blesses us.”



 Therefore Pope Benedict XVI waived the five year rule so that the cause of Beatification and Canonisation of Karol Wojtyla could begin immediately. The decision was announced on May 13, 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima, and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on Wojtyla’s life at St. Peter’s Square. Pope John Paul II often credited Our Lady of Fátima for preserving him on that day. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, officially opened the cause for beatification in the Lateran Basilica on June 28, 2005.



With so much going for it, it seemed certain that Karol Wojtyla’s beatification process would soon be concluded, but after almost 5 years, some people are becoming sceptical about a speedy conclusion of the process.



Some prelates advocate for a slow process because they believe that it is impossible, in such a short time, to evaluate objectively and comprehensively such a hallmark pontificate as that of Wojtyla’s, which lasted 27 long years; moreover, they claim that all of Wojtyla’s voluminous writings should be taken into account.



In his Testament, Pope John Paul had asked that all of his private documents be burned; however, his personal secretary, Stanslaw Dziwisz, has kept them, and this immense archive has been transferred from the Vatican to the Archbishopric of Krakow, where it is still waiting to be catalogued, and is therefore currently unusable for the beatification process.



 Added to these are the documents from the archives of the Polish and Soviet secret services. Secret agents from these two former Communist countries spied on Wojtyla constantly, and had even managed to infiltrate four KGB spies into Pope John Paul’s court at the Vatican.



Instead, those who are urging for an immediate beatification claim that it is not necessary to examine all the documents – that the material already at our disposal is sufficient to conclude the process. This last party seems to be favoured, for rumours of Pope John Paul II’s beatification have lately multiplied. And while there is no official confirmation of a specific date for his beatification, many are hopeful that the cries of “Santo Subito” heard at his funeral Mass will be realized within a year or more specifically on the fifth anniversary of his death.



While no one can accurately predict the timing of any beatification, it seems safe to say that John Paul II – whose beatification Pope Benedict publicly prayed for in April this year – will be beatified, and in record time.



Beatification would be a great reminder of what John Paul stood for, of the totality of his message. But we need not wait for his beatification to remember the man and what he stood for.





Dr. Aleksandra Zapotoczny





In the attempt to find some sort of answer to this question we have taken to bold step of visiting the Offices of the Postulator on the fourth floor of the Episcopal Palace of the Vicariate of Rome. We were escorted there by Dr. Aleksandra Zapotoczny, who has been one of Monsignor Oder’s closest associates in the last four years.



Dr. Zapotoczny is a young Polish journalist who was born in Wadowice, Karol Wojtyla birth town. She has been working for Postulator Oder right from the start, and is therefore a reliable source of information on the process. Zapotoczny is also the director of the periodical Totus Tuus, the official magazine of the beatification process of Pope John Paul II, and has published three volumes of testimonies to our late Pope’s holiness.



“I have learnt to love Karol Wojtyla since I was a girl,” says Zapotoczny. “My mother was a medical doctor, and always referred her patients to Pope John Paul. When he was still alive, she would bring them here to Rome so that the Holy Father could bless them. My grandmother was his classmate at high school, while my great grandmother would kneel in front of the TV whenever she saw him. I would never have thought that one day my life would be so closely linked to him.”





How many people are assisting Msgr. Oder in the process?



Not many; in practice there are four of us: Dr. Michèle Smits, a Belgian woman who is Monsignor Oder’s secretary; then there is me, I assist the Postulator in all things concerning Poland, but I also deal with journalists and edit Totus Tuus. Then there are two Italians, Fr. Giuseppe Mangia, who answers letters from our readers, and Stefano Chiodo, who looks after our Internet site.





A tireless worker





How exactly do you help Msgr. Oder?



We help Monsignor Oder keep in touch with the enormous family of devotees of our late Pope. Moreover, we deal with relations with the media. He cannot do this by himself because, amongst other things, he is working closely with the Commission, which is collecting all the documents pertinent to the cause.



Msgr. Oder is a tireless worker; he has organised everything using the new technologies like the Internet. Our website is a place where anyone from any place in the world may send emails and read updated information on the state of the beatification process. Now this easy accessibility of ordinary people to the beatification process has greatly influenced the process itself in a way that is peculiar to this beatification. Generally these processes are rather arcane in their nature for the common man, but in the case of the beatification of Pope John Paul, the process is happening in real time, and ordinary people are making their voice heard.



Instead, the magazine Totus Tuus, was intended to facilitate those who have no access to computers, and contains all the material that appears on our website.



At first Totus Tuus consisted of only 4 pages, then, thanks to encouragement from Cardinal Ruini and from our readers, the magazine became bulkier, and it now consists of 32 pages. It is published in six languages: Polish, Italian, Spanish, English, French and Portuguese.





What do people write?



They write about their love and devotion for Pope John Paul II. Many people turn to him as though he were still alive. They address him with words like, ‘Dear Pope’, ‘Dear Karol’ or ‘Dear John Paul’. They write about their sufferings, both physical and moral. At times they write about their tragedies, but we also receive letters of thanksgiving. Then there are letters from people who claim that they have received important graces or miraculous healings after having prayed to Pope John Paul.



In the first year after John Paul’s death the letters were mainly about the sorrow people felt for the loss of the Pope. In the second year requests for help became dominant. In the third year after his death, there was a prevalence of ‘thank you’ letters for graces received, as well as stories of conversions or prodigious healings.



Msgr. Oder believes that when Karol Wojtyla is finally canonised, he could become the patron of barren mothers. We do in fact receive many letters of thanks from women who finally manage to conceive and give birth to healthy children after trying in vain to conceive for years on end. Some of these mothers sometimes come to Rome and pray at John Paul II’s Tomb in the Vatican Grottoes, then they come here to our offices and show us their babies.





Prodigious healings





Are there letters which speak about prodigious healings?



Yes, quite a lot. These letters actually provide useful material which we use as evidence of the holiness of our late Pope. Sometimes these healings are so incredible that people attach medical reports as proof of the miraculous nature of the healing.



I was very impressed by the story of a 50-year-old woman with cancer. The tumour had spread all over her body so she was dismissed from hospital and allowed to die in her own home.



At home, the woman prepared herself for death by praying to our late Pope. In her prayers, she beseeched healing from the Lord, but always remembered to add the phrase, ‘Let God’s will be done’. She had even bought herself the clothing to wear for when she was dead.



Unexpectedly, at a certain moment she started to feel better. After a check up the doctors were utterly amazed – all traces of the cancer had disappeared from her body. That woman is now completely healed, and every now and then sends us her greetings.



Another prodigious case occurred in Poland. A boy called David had cancer of the kidneys. The disease was so advanced that it was too late to operate. Everything had been tried, from Chemotherapy to a new cure in America, all to no avail. The disease had metastasized to his lungs, and was threatening to suffocate him.



At the end of their tether, the desperate parents made one last try and brought the boy over to Rome, to pray at the tomb of our late Pope. David, however, would have none of this, claiming that he didn’t believe this practice. The parents insisted, and finally managed to convince him. David was so weak that he had to be transported to the tomb on a stretcher. His parents wept and prayed while the boy looked on in silence. Then something utterly unbelievable happened. David suddenly began to feel better. “Once we were out of the Basilica,” the mother writes in the long letter, “David started running, but had to hold up his trousers with his hands because he had lost a frightful amount of weight during the illness.” The young man had healed, and is now in excellent health. However incredible this episode may seem, there are other similar events.





Letters to Heaven





Do you also get letters from young people?



Yes, many young people also write to us, but the letters we receive from children are deeply moving. They send us letters where Pope John Paul is painted with wings and with a halo around his head. At times on the envelope they write the address: Pope John Paul II and add, Heaven or Paradise. Nothing else. By some mysterious power most of these letters eventually end up here, in our offices.



Pope John Paul II died four years ago, yet his popularity remains immense and continues unabated. We have proof of this in our offices. As time goes on these letters and emails increase rather than diminish, and they come from all the corners of the globe because the whole world continues to think about our late Pope.