John Paul II beatification will mark first time in 1,000 years a Pope will beatify predecessor

John Paul II beatification will mark first time in 1,000 years a Pope will beatify predecessor







The beatification of John Paul II, which Pope Benedict XVI will preside over on May 1, will mark the first time in 1,000 years a Pontiff has beatified his immediate predecessor.

The director of the L’Osservatore Romano, Giovanni Maria Vian, said a Jan. 16 article, “One has to return to the heart of the Middle Ages to find a similar situation.” However, he continued, “even in that context it doesn’t compare with the decision of Benedict XVI: in the last 10 centuries no Pope has raised his immediate predecessor to the altars.”

“Pietro del Morrone (Celestine V) was canonized in 1313—less than 20 years after his death—by his third successor, and more than two centuries earlier the sanctity of Leo IX and Gregory VI, who died in 1054 and 1085 respectively, was recognized,” Vian explained.



After noting that the last Pope to be canonized was St. Pius X, Vian recalled that the essential question in every beatification and canonization cause is the exemplary life of the candidate.

As Paul VI said upon announcing the opening of the causes of his immediate predecessors, John XXIII and Pius XII, this ensures that “the patrimony of their spiritual heritage” is kept separate from “any reason other than their devotion to true sanctity, that is, to the glory of God and the edification of the Church.”

“And Karol Wojtyla was an authentic servant of God, a fervent witness of Christ for young people until his last breath. Many people, Catholic and non-Christian alike, realized this during his exemplary life,” the Vatican newspaper’s editor said.

For this reason and for many more, Vian concluded, Benedict XVI has decided to preside over the beatification of the pilgrim Pope “in order to present to the world the personal model of sanctity of John Paul II.”