As I was gone all day yesterday, I missed this big but long-awaited news...
Vatican medical consultants approve
the miracle needed for
the canonization of John Paul II
by Andrea Tornielli
April 22, 2013
The medical council of experts for the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Sainthood has recognized one healing attributed to John Paul II's intercession as inexplicable, and If the theologians likewise give their approval, Karol Wojtyla would become a Saint only eight years after his death, and could be celebrated next October ont the 35th anniversary of his election as Pope.
The evaluation of the canonization /miracle' all happened in great secrecy, with maximum confidentiality. In January, the postulator of the cause, Mgr. Slawomir Oder, submitted a presumed miraculous healing to the Vatican Congregation for a preliminary opinion.
By the rules of the Church, after the approval of a miracle for the proclamation of a blessed, the canonical procedures include the recognition of a second miracle that must have occurred after the beatification ceremony.
Two doctors of the Vatican council had previously examined this new case, and both gave a favourable opinion. The dossier with the medical records and the testimonies was then officially presented to the Congregation, which immediately included the examination in its agenda.
In the past few days it was discussed by a committee of seven doctors, the council (presided over by Dr. Patrick Polisca, Pope John Paul II's cardiologist), Pope Benedict XVI's personal physicians and now Pope Francis's. The medical council also gave a favourable opinion, the first official go-ahead by the Vatican, by defining as inexplicable the healing attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Karol Wojtyla.
This overcomes the first fundamental hurdle, and the presumed miracle must now be approved by theologians and then by the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation, before being presented to the Pope for the definitive "yes".
In any case, the approval of the medical council is considered the most important step; in fact, neither the theologians nor the cardinals are involved in the clinical evaluations concerning the case.
From the steps that have been taken so far with regard to the cause of John Paul II, the desire of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to work quickly is evident, as it was in his beatification, h celebrated by his successor Benedict XVI on May 1, 2011, six years after his death.
Presumably, Pope Francis will act expeditiously once the final cause for canonization is presented to him.
It is still premature to talk about dates for the canonization, but the rapidity with which the examination of the miracle process is happening still leaves open the possibility of celebrating it on Sunday, October 20th, very close to the liturgical holiday assigned to the blessed Wojtyla, which is on October 22nd (the date of the inauguration of his Petrine ministry).