Considering the fact that they are elected to lead people in prayer, mission and good works, surprisingly few popes have been beatified or canonized, especially in the last 500 years.
From St. Peter to Pope Benedict XVI, there have been 265 popes; 78 of them are saints, and Pope John Paul II’s beatification brought to 11 the number of popes known as blessed.
With all those holy popes — including the first 35 bishops of Rome — it would seem that the beatification of Pope John Paul could not set any records or be a first of any kind.
Yet his was the quickest beatification since 1588 when the modern sainthood process, regulated by the Vatican, began. Many of the “blessed” popes were beatified on significant anniversaries of their death like Blessed Victor III, who died in 1087 and was beatified in 1887, or Blessed Urban V, who died in 1370 and was beatified in 1870.
Pope John Paul received the recognition six years and 29 days after his death. His process was shorter than the beatification process for Mother Teresa of Kolkata by about two weeks.
Both causes benefitted from a papal exemption from the Vatican rule that five years must pass between a person’s death and the opening of his or her sainthood cause.
Pope John Paul set the precedence by waiving the five-year waiting period for Blessed Teresa’s cause; Pope Benedict set aside the waiting period for Pope John Paul’s cause.
In newspapers, on television and on blogs leading up to the May 1 ceremony, the short time lapse between Pope John Paul’s death and his beatification became a topic of debate. The “pro” side generally argued that the late pope’s holiness was so clear to so many people that the Vatican had to respond to the “sensus fidelium,” the sense of the faithful. The “con” side tended to argue that an acclamation of holiness needs to stand the test of time and six years just isn’t enough.
In the causes of both Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul, the Vatican said the waiting period was the only part of the normal process that was skipped. Eyewitnesses — including those with doubts — were interviewed, writings were studied, a massive biography was prepared and the Vatican looked for miracles to confirm that both were in heaven and able to intervene on behalf of the faithful.
Interestingly enough, though, both causes benefitted from some streamlining of the sainthood process ordered by Pope John Paul in 1983. Instead of two miracles for beatification and two more for canonization, he reduced the number of miracles needed to one for each step.
Read more of Pope’s not being automatic saints