Vatican City, Jun 27, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Mere two months and twenty-six days after his death in April, the Vatican will officially open the cause for beatification of the late Pope John Paul II this afternoon at St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome.
The ceremony, to be lead by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Vicar of the Diocese of Rome, will begin following Vespers on the eve of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Msgr. Slawomir Oder, the polish priest who has been appointed postulator of the cause, will present his mandate to the members of the diocesan tribunal, including Cardinal Ruini. He will then receive approval to compile a complete dossier on "the life and the virtues" of "the Servant of God John Paul II, in lay life Karol Wojtyla, Sovereign Pontiff."
Then an official oath will be administered to Msgr. Oder and to the other officials associated with the cause. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Cardinal Ruini will pronounce a discourse imploring the faithful to pray “for the intercession of the Servant of God Pope John Paul II.
”The proceedings will begin a diocesan investigation into the life, virtues and saintliness of the 26-year reining pontiff born in Poland as Karol Wojtyla.
Pope Benedict XVI announced the unusually quick opening of John Paul’s cause on May 13 during a meeting with the Roman clergy in which he waived the normal five-year waiting period after the death of a Servant of God.