He hasn’t died yet, but there’s nothing wrong in speculating: do you think Pope John Paul II will be canonized? If so, how long do you think it will take?
It seems that if a person has a popular following, he/she stands a better chance for canonization. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta is one example. She was extremely popular and looked up to by people all over the world. (I’m still surprised Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta hasn’t been canonized yet, but I’m sure it will happen.) Many people admire and like the Holy Father, even if they disagree with him. I know of two people personally who strongly dislike the Catholic Church but who think very highly of the Holy Father.
The last pope to be canonized was Pius X. He was Pope from 1903 until 1914. He was canonized in 1954.
And he was a pretty popular guy in his day.
Let’s just say that if John Paul II is canonized it’s going to take a really long time. There’s going to be too much of a paper trail for everybody to sort through and complain about.
In order to be canonized in the RCC, a person must have performed three verified miracles (I’m confident the language is different, but the end is fairly similar). I’m unaware of anything that’s been commonly attributed to a miracle on the part of the man.
Miracles don’t have to be performed directly by the person, I don’t believe. Mother Teresa has been beatified, which requires two miracles, and one of them according to Wikipedia was “caused” by an image of her:
I have a feeling that the Church won’t have any problems finding three miracles to attribute to John Paul II. In fact, I’d be shocked if he wasn’t canonized at some point, considering the high regard Catholics and many non-Catholics hold for him (as WeRSauron said).
Yes, that’s what I’ve always understood. Canonisation doesn’t make a person a saint. It confirms that the person is already a saint, in heaven, where his intercessory prayers on behalf of the faithful are going to be particularly efficacious i.e. produce miracles.
I’m not sure. I don’t have detailed knowledge of the beatification / canonisation processes. But I don’t think it would hurt a candidate’s chances for canonisation if it could be proved that he was able to inspire miraculous outcomes through his prayers while he was still alive.
Unofficially, I’d say the chances are overwhelmingly good and probably it’ll happen surprisingly quickly. Pope John Paul II has essentially remade the Church heirarchy into his own image; virtually every significant leader in the Roman Catholic Church was appointed by the current pope. And he chose people who followed his ideological beliefs. Another major change that John Paul has made is greatly easing the procedures for canonization.
So when the Pope dies, you’ll have a situation where his most loyal followers will be the ones judging his legacy and weighing the evidence.