Over a million Catholics crowded St Peter’s Square and the streets surrounding Vatican City on Sunday morning to attend a service of beatification for Pope John Paul II.
The service was led by Pope Benedict XVI on behalf of his predecessor who passed away in 2005 after spending 25 years as pope.
The beatification is the second last step in the process towards full canonization and is the fastest in modern times after John Paul II was put on a “fast-track” to sainthood.
The service was preceded by an all-night prayer vigil in Rome’s Circus Maximus and included a testimony from the French nun at the center of the miracle needed for John Paul’s beatification.
Sister Marie Simon-Pierre told the crowd how she was inexplicably cured from Parkinson’s disease after a night of prayer to the pontiff not long after his death.
A second miracle is required for full canonization, which should not be problematic as hundreds of Catholics have already reportedly come forward with such claims.