Title "the Great"

Upon the death of John Paul II, a number of clergy at the Vatican and laymen^[90]^[270]^[293] began referring to the late pontiff as "John Paul the Great" — in theory only the fourth pope to be so acclaimed.^[90]^[293]^[294]^[295] Cardinal Angelo Sodano specifically referred to John Paul as "the Great" in his published written homily for the pope's funeral Mass of Repose.^[296]^[297] The South African Catholic newspaper The Southern Cross has referred to him in print as "John Paul II the Great".^[298] Some Catholic educational institutions in the US have additionally changed their names to incorporate "the Great", including John Paul the Great Catholic University and schools called some variant of John Paul the Great High School.

Scholars of canon law say that there is no official process for declaring a pope "Great"; the title simply establishes itself through popular and continued usage,^[270]^[299]^[300] as was the case with celebrated secular leaders (for example, Alexander III of Macedon became popularly known as Alexander the Great). The three popes who today commonly are known as "Great" are Leo I, who reigned from 440–461 and persuaded Attila the Hun to withdraw from Rome; Gregory I, 590–604, after whom the Gregorian chant is named; and Pope Nicholas I, 858–867, who consolidated the Catholic Church in the Western world in the Middle Ages.^[293]

John Paul's successor, Benedict XVI, did not use the term directly in public speeches, but made oblique references to "the great Pope John Paul II" in his first address from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica, at the 20th World Youth Day 2005 in Germany when he said in Polish: "As the great Pope John Paul II would say: Keep the flame of faith alive in your lives and your people";^[301] and in May 2006 during a visit to Poland where he repeatedly made references to "the great John Paul" and "my great predecessor".^[302]

Institutions named after John Paul II

Pope John Paul II High School (Tennessee)
John Paul II High School (Plano, Texas)
John Paul the Great Catholic University
John Paul the Great Catholic High School (Indiana)
John Paul II Catholic Secondary School (London, Ontario, Canada)
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Saint John Paul the Great Catholic High School (Virginia)
John Paul II High School, Greymouth
Karol Wojtyla College, Lima, Peru^[303]
Scoil Eoin Phóil, Leixlip, Ireland
John Paul II Gymnasium, Kaunas, Lithuania
Pope John Paul II High School in Olympia, Washington^[304]
Universidad Privada Juan Pablo II, Lima, Peru ^[305]
Karol Wojtyła building at Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia^[306]
St. John Paul II Chapel and Museum at Pakuwon Mall in Surabaya, Indonesia
St. John Paul II Minor Seminary, Minor Seminary in Antipolo City, Philippines
St. John Paul II Parish Community (Lake View, NY)
St. John Paul II High School (Massachusetts)
Saint John Paul II Academy Boca Raton, FL
St. John Paul II Catholic High School (Alabama)
St. John Paul II Catholic High School (Arizona)
St. John Paul II Seminary (Washington, DC)^[307]
Pope Saint John Paul II Major Seminary Awka (Nigeria)^[308]
St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Pope John Paul II High School, Royersford Pennsylvania, USA

Beatification

Inspired by calls of "Santo Subito!" ("[Make him a] Saint Immediately!") from the crowds gathered during the funeral Mass that he celebrated,^[310]^[311]^[312]^[313] Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor, bypassing the normal restriction that five years must pass after a person's death before beginning the beatification process.^[311]^[312]^[314]^[315] In an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Camillo Ruini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, who was responsible for promoting the cause for canonisation of any person who died within that diocese, cited "exceptional circumstances", which suggested that the waiting period could be waived.^[21]^[270]^[316] This decision was announced on 13 May 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II at St. Peter's Square.^[317]

In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a possible miracle associated with John Paul II. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun and member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Maternity Wards, confined to her bed by Parkinson's disease,^[312]^[318] was reported to have experienced a "complete and lasting cure after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II".^[193]^[270]^[310]^[312]^[319]^[320] As of May 2008^[update], Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, then 46,^[310]^[312] was working again at a maternity hospital run by her religious institute.^[315]^[318]^[321]^[322]

"I was sick and now I am cured," she told reporter Gerry Shaw. "I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not."^[318]^[321]

On 28 May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass before an estimated 900,000 people in John Paul II's native Poland. During his homily, he encouraged prayers for the early canonisation of John Paul II and stated that he hoped canonisation would happen "in the near future".^[318]^[323]

In January 2007, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz announced that the interview phase of the beatification process, in Italy and Poland, was nearing completion.^[270]^[318]^[324] In February 2007, second class relics of John Paul II—pieces of white papal cassocks he used to wear—were freely distributed with prayer cards for the cause, a typical pious practice after a saintly Catholic's death.^[325]^[326] On 8 March 2007, the Vicariate of Rome announced that the diocesan phase of John Paul's cause for beatification was at an end. Following a ceremony on 2 April 2007—the second anniversary of the Pontiff's death—the cause proceeded to the scrutiny of the committee of lay, clerical, and episcopal members of the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, to conduct a separate investigation.^[311]^[318]^[324] On the fourth anniversary of John Paul II's death, 2 April 2009, Cardinal Dziwisz, told reporters of a presumed miracle that had recently occurred at the former pope's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica.^[321]^[327]^[328] A nine-year-old Polish boy from Gdańsk, who was suffering from kidney cancer and was completely unable to walk, had been visiting the tomb with his parents. On leaving St. Peter's Basilica, the boy told them, "I want to walk," and began walking normally.^[327]^[328]^[329] On 16 November 2009, a panel of reviewers at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints voted unanimously that John Paul II had lived a life of heroic virtue.^[330]^[331] On 19 December 2009, Pope Benedict XVI signed the first of two decrees needed for beatification and proclaimed John Paul II "Venerable", asserting that he had lived a heroic, virtuous life.^[330]^[331] The second vote and the second signed decree certifying the authenticity of the first miracle, the curing of Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun, from Parkinson's disease. Once the second decree is signed, the position (the report on the cause, with documentation about his life and writings and with information on the cause) is complete.^[331] He can then be beatified.^[330]^[331] Some speculated that he would be beatified sometime during (or soon after) the month of the 32nd anniversary of his 1978 election, in October 2010. As Monsignor Oder said, this course would have been possible if the second decree were signed in time by Benedict XVI, stating that a posthumous miracle directly attributable to his intercession had occurred, completing the positio.

The Vatican announced on 14 January 2011 that Pope Benedict XVI had confirmed the miracle involving Sister Marie Simon-Pierre and that John Paul II was to be beatified on 1 May, the Feast of Divine Mercy.^[332] 1 May is commemorated in former Communist countries, such as Poland, and some Western European countries as May Day, and John Paul II was well known for his contributions to Communism's relatively peaceful demise.^[90]^[111] In March 2011 the Polish mint issued a gold 1,000 Polish złoty coin (equivalent to US$350), with the Pope's image to commemorate his beatification.^[333]

On 29 April 2011, John Paul II's coffin was disinterred from the grotto beneath St. Peter's Basilica ahead of his beatification, as tens of thousands of people arrived in Rome for one of the biggest events since his funeral.^[334]^[335] John Paul II's remains, which were not exposed, were placed in front of the Basilica's main altar, where believers could pay their respect before and after the beatification mass in St. Peter's Square on 1 May 2011. On 3 May 2011 his remains were interred in the marble altar in Pier Paolo Cristofari Chapel of St. Sebastian, where Pope Innocent XI was buried. This more prominent location, next to the Chapel of the Pietà, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, and statues of Popes Pius XI and Pius XII was intended to allow more pilgrims to view his memorial. John Paul II's body is located near the bodies of Pope Pius X and Pope John XXIII, whose bodies were reinterred in the Basilica after their own beatifications and together are three of the five popes beatified in the last century. The two popes who were not exhumed and reinterred after becoming a blessed in the last century were Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I, who both remain entombed in the papal grottos.^[336]^[337]

In July 2012, a Colombian man, Marco Fidel Rojas, the former mayor of Huila, Colombia, testified that he was "miraculously cured" of Parkinson's disease after a trip to Rome where he met John Paul II and prayed with him. Antonio Schlesinger Piedrahita, a renowned neurologist in Colombia, certified Fidel's healing. The documentation was then sent to the Vatican office for sainthood causes.^[338]

In September 2020, Poland unveiled a sculpture of him, designed by Jerzy Kalina [pl] and installed outside the National Museum, Warsaw, holding up a meteorite.^[339] In the same month, a relic containing his blood was stolen from the Spoleto Cathedral in Italy.^[340]

Canonisation

To be eligible for canonisation (being declared a saint) by the Catholic Church, two miracles must be attributed to a candidate.

The first miracle attributed to John Paul was the above mentioned healing of a man's Parkinson's disease, which was recognised during the beatification process. According to an article on the Catholic News Service (CNS) dated 23 April 2013, a Vatican commission of doctors concluded that a healing had no natural (medical) explanation, which is the first requirement for a claimed miracle to be officially documented.^[341]^[342]^[343]

The second miracle was deemed to have taken place shortly after the late pope's beatification on 1 May 2011; it was reported to be the healing of Costa Rican woman Floribeth Mora of an otherwise terminal brain aneurysm.^[344] A Vatican panel of expert theologians examined the evidence, determined that it was directly attributable to the intercession of John Paul II, and recognised it as miraculous.^[342]^[343] The next stage was for Cardinals who compose the membership of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to give their opinion to Pope Francis to decide whether to sign and promulgate the decree and set a date for canonisation.^[342]^[343]^[345]

On 4 July 2013, Pope Francis confirmed his approval of John Paul II's canonisation, formally recognising the second miracle attributed to his intercession. He was canonised together with John XXIII.^[15]^[346] The date of the canonisation was on 27 April 2014, Divine Mercy Sunday.^[347]^[348]

The canonisation Mass for Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII, was celebrated by Pope Francis (with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI), on 27 April 2014 in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican (John Paul II had died on vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday in 2005). About 150 cardinals and 700 bishops concelebrated the Mass, and at least 500,000 people attended the Mass, with an estimated 300,000 others watching from video screens placed around Rome.^[349]

The new saint's remains, considered to be holy relics, were exhumed from their place in the basilica's grotto,^[350] and a new tomb was established at the altar of St. Sebastian.^[351]

Beatification of the Pope's parents

On 10 October 2019, the Archdiocese of Kraków and the Polish Episcopal Conference approved nihil obstat the opening of the beatification cause of the parents of its patron saint John Paul II, Karol Wojtyła Sr. and Emilia Kaczorowska. It gained approval from the Holy See to open the diocesan phase of the cause on 7 May 2020.^[352]