1 million gather for Pope John Paul II`s beautification

All people -- clergymen, politicians, dictators and the general public -- became one before him.

A ceremony to beautify the late Pope John Paul II (1920∼2005) was hosted at 10 a.m. Sunday at St Peter`s Square in Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI, who declared his predecessor a saint blessed by the Roman Catholic Church.

The beautification of Pope John Paul, which came six years after his death, is the fastest in Catholic history. Pope Benedict approved it in January by saying, “By accepting the wishes of the world Catholic community, the Church immediately began the beautification process without a five-year grace period after Pope John Paul II died.”

Benedict said Sunday that “John Paul could now be called blessed.”

After the beautification Mass, the Vatican moved Pope John Paul II’s remains from an underground cemetery to St. Sebastianus chapel near Michelangelo’s Pieta sculpture at St. Peter’s Cathedral.

○ Everybody is one

Pilgrims started to gather from early dawn Sunday. When the sun rose, all the seats at the plaza were completely occupied. More than 1 million people crowded St Peter`s Square and streets near the Vatican, with tens of thousands packing the square.

More than 50 head of state-level VIP guests, including Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Belgian King Albert Félix Humbert Théodore, were seated in an orderly fashion at Mass.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 87, and his delegation also attended. Mugabe, who was indicted by the International Criminal Court for massacre, is under a European Union entry ban but received permission to attend the event.

The Catholic Mugabe also participated in Pope John II’s funeral in 2005.

When Pope Benedict entered St. Peter’s Square at 10:10 am, the crowd applauded and shouted. After reading the beautification declaration at 10:40 am, he brought the blood of his predecessor contained in an ampule to the altar. Drawn before his death, the blood had been kept frozen.

○ Miracle before Pope John Paul II’s death

Pope John Paul II, who was the second-longest serving pope in history at 27 years, made 104 overseas trips to spread a message of peace and compromise. For a Pope to be “blessed,” however, he needs to win recognition for creating a medical miracle, such as healing of a patient, in addition to such accomplishments.

The most critical factor to his beautification was testimony by Sister Marie Simon-Pierre of France. She attended at an overnight worship service before hundreds of thousands of Catholics Saturday at the Roman Amphitheater, Circus Maximus, and testified in person her experience 10 years ago.

She said she was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, the same disease suffered by the late pope, and saw her condition deteriorate so severely that she could hardly write in 2001 at age 40. After continuously praying to Pope John Paul II, she said she experienced a miracle healing on June 2 and 3, two months after his death.

Pope Benedict declared in January an order recognizing her experience as a miracle of his late predecessor.

taylor55@donga.com