beatification OF THE POPE! POPE JOHN PAUL II

That fact was on clear display on 1 May, when Pope John Paul II was beatified, the final step before sainthood, in a ceremony in Rome that drew hundreds of thousands of people to St Peter's Square.

John Paul's beatification comes just six years and one month after his death in 2005. The perception of haste has puzzled some observers, especially those inclined to question the late pope's record on combating the scourge of clerical sexual abuse.

Formally speaking, the Vatican's explanation is that all the traditional criteria have been met. There is a popular grassroots conviction that John Paul was a holy man - an exhaustive four-volume Vatican study concluded that he lived a life of "heroic virtue" - and a miracle has been documented as resulting from his intervention.

The miracle involves the healing of a 49-year-old French nun from Parkinson's disease, the same affliction from which the late pope suffered.

What is beatification?

Beatification, the final step before sainthood, arose as a way of authorising veneration to a candidate in the local area where she or he lived. It entitles the candidate to be called "Blessed". After 1 May, Catholics in Poland and in Rome will celebrate a feast in honour of "Blessed John Paul II" every year on 22 October. In a special decree issued in April, the Vatican has also given Catholics all over the world one year to celebrate Masses in thanksgiving for the beatification of John Paul

Canonisation is the formal act of declaring someone a saint in the Catholic Church

Steps to sainthood

The process, which cannot begin until at least five years after the candidate's death unless the pope waives that waiting period, involves scrutinising evidence of their holiness, work and signs that people are drawn to prayer through their example:

• First stage: individual is declared a 'servant of God'
• Second stage: individual is called 'venerable'
• Third stage (requires a miracle attributed to candidate's intercession): beatification, when individual is declared blessed
• Fourth stage (requires a further authenticated miracle): candidate is canonised as a saint for veneration by Church