Benedict joins Polish chorus for “Saint” John Paul

By Philip Pullella and Natalia Reiter

KALWARIA ZEBRZYDOWSKA, Poland (Reuters) – Pope Benedict
joined a chorus of Polish calls urging quick sainthood for his
predecessor John Paul, saying he hoped the Catholic Church
would soon bestow the honor on its favorite son.

Visiting John Paul’s hometown of Wadowice in southern
Poland, the German-born Pope, 79, on Saturday read to a
cheering crowd a carefully worded statement in Polish saying he
prayed John Paul “may soon be elevated to the glory of the
altars.”

Later, at a nearby shrine dear to the late pontiff, Krakow
Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz — John Paul’s personal secretary
during his 26-year papacy — thanked Benedict for meeting the
believers who prayed daily there for his swift canonization.

Benedict first read a prepared text in Polish and then,
after a short exchange with Dziwisz, turned to the flag-waving
crowd and made a rare off-the-cuff remark that left no doubt
about what his formal statement in Wadowice meant.

“I would like to say that, like our dear archbishop
Cardinal Stanislaw, I hope that Divine Providence will soon
grant us the beatification and canonization of our dear pope
John Paul II,” he ad-libbed in Italian.

The crowd of several thousand at the hilltop shrine of
Kalwaria Zebrzydowska cheered loudly when his words were
translated into Polish. As in Wadowice, some held up banners
saying “Santo Subito” (Make him a saint now).

SENTIMENTAL VISIT

Benedict’s visit to Poland is a four-day pilgrimage to pay
homage to John Paul and build a rapport with Poland, a deeply
Catholic country he sees as a key ally in efforts to revive
Christian beliefs and values in an increasingly secular Europe.

A more reserved man than his predecessor, he has delighted
“John Paul’s orphans” by reading his speeches partly in Polish.

Benedict put John Paul on the fast track to sainthood only
a month after being elected to succeed him in April 2005.

While his case is moving ahead quickly, the Church requires
proof of one miracle due to a candidate’s intercession after
death for beatification and proof of a second one for
sainthood.

A French nun has claimed to have been inexplicably cured of
Parkinson’s disease — the same affliction that struck John
Paul in his final years — after praying to the late pope.

The visit to Wadowice, a small town in the foothills of
southern Poland’s Tatra mountain, was a sentimental highpoint
of the pilgrimage. About 30,000 people packed John Paul II
Square in the heart of town waving Vatican and Polish flags.

“I wished to stop precisely here, in the place where his
faith began and matured, to pray together with all of you that
he may soon be elevated to the glory of the altars,” he said.

That phrase, which refers to both beatification — the last
step before sainthood — and canonization as a saint, was his
first mention on his trip of his support for the cause.

Before addressing the crowd, Benedict prayed in the Baroque
church where Karol Wojtyla was baptized and served as an altar
boy and then toured a museum next door housing the two-room
flat where the future pope lived during his childhood years.