Catholics rally in Rome for John Paul II's beatification

Hundreds of thousands of Roman Catholics have descended on Rome ahead of Sunday's beatification of Pope John Paul II, the penultimate step before he is canonized a saint. 

Pilgrims waving flags from Poland, Spain, Germany and Brazil have filled the Circus Maximus, where chariot races were once held. The site twinkled with the light of thousands of candles as choirs from John Paul's native Poland, the Philippines and Italy sang.

They listened as a French nun who suffered from Parkinson's recounted how she was cured after praying to John Paul, who also battled the same disease.

The Vatican has decreed that Sister Marie Simone-Pierre's inexplicable healing was the miracle needed to beatify John Paul, a process that will reach its culmination Sunday during a Mass in St. Peter's Square celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI

When John Paul died six years ago, thousands gathered in St. Peter's Square chanting, Santo subito! Sainthood now!

While the Vatican hasn't granted John Paul sainthood, it has speeded up the process considerably.

John Paul's successor, Benedict the XVI, waived the usual five-year waiting period after death before the three-step path to sainthood can be begun. In January, the Vatican approved as a miracle the claim by a French nun that she was cured of Parkinson's through prayer to John Paul.

The speed with which the Vatican has moved John Paul toward sainthood is a result of the saint-making machine that the former pope himself set in motion.

Vatican expert Francis X. Rocca says John Paul set the precedent for expediting the sainthood process when he oversaw the beatification of Mother Teresa just a few years after her death.

"John Paul beatified and canonized many, many, many more people than hundreds of years of his predecessors put together," Rocca said. "He wanted to use sainthood and beatification as a method of evangelization. Saints are models of virtue, so the more saints you have, the more models you offer people."

Important role

For a church with dwindling worldwide attendance and a long history of sexual abuse scandals, such beatifications and canonizations play an ever more important role in promoting a positive image of Catholicism. 

But they don't just appeal to Catholics.

Canadian poet Lena Allen-Shore, a Jew who has travelled to Rome for the ceremony, shared a special relationship with the Polish-born John Paul. 

Allen-Shore, who was also born in Poland, survived the Holocaust with the help of Christian friends. Later, when John Paul became pope, she wrote him and that started a correspondence and friendship that lasted more than two decades.

Allen-Shore has written a book about it and is now working on a cantata about John Paul's life. She says already knows the opening scene.

"When he was born, his mother decided that the window should be open and I think that his window was open during his whole life," she told CBC News.

Shore's son Jacques, a lawyer from Ottawa, recalls the first time he met the pope with his mother.

"I really did not know how to greet JPII because I knew as someone of Jewish faith I wasn't prepared to kiss a ring," he recalled, "but at same time I wanted to demonstrate to him I was being respectful.

"When he came to me he knew that I wasn't quite sure, he simply gave me big embrace and kissed me on forehead, so that demonstrated from first moment who he was."

Elsewhere, Poles were eagerly awaiting the beatification of John Paul II, regarded by many Catholics as a saint while he was alive.

"This is a huge and important cause of joy," said Warsaw Archbishop Kazimierz Nycz.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the longtime secretary and friend of John Paul, gave "huge thanks" to Pope Benedict  XVI for the decree. "We are happy today," he said.

Wojtyla's hometown overjoyed

Residents of Karol Wojtyla's birthplace, Wadowice, have been hanging banners and flags ahead of the beatification that will take place at the Vatican on Sunday.

John Paul II grew up in the town, where the main square now bears his name. Pictures of the late pontiff are everywhere.

The church where he was baptized and where he served as an altar boy has a massive painting showing him blessing children. The house where he lived as a boy has been turned into a museum and is being renovated, along with the nearby church and square. Icons depicting John Paul II are sold in local shops.

The town's mayor, Ewa Filipiak, said she expects a boost in visitors to the town as a result of the beatification.

When he was elected in 1978, Wojtyla became the first Polish pope and the first non-Italian to take the role in 455 years.

John Paul died in 2005 after almost 27 years as pope. He was succeeded by Benedict XVI.