Scottish Catholic Observer

Blessed Pope John Paul II will be made a saint, it has been announced by the Vatican.

Pope Francis has approved a second miracle attributed to the Polish Pope, thus clearing the path for his Canonisation. The Vatican has also announced that Pope John XXIII, who reigned from 1958 to 1963 and called the Second Vatican Council, will be made a saint.

No dates for the Canonisation ceremonies have yet been announced but they are expected to take place by the end of the year, the Vatican has said.

Blessed John Paul II had already been credited with praying to God for the cure of French nun Marie Simon-Pierre Normand of Parkinson’s disease, which helped lead to his Beatification in 2011, when he was declared a ‘blessed’ of the Church.

Two confirmed miracles are usually required under Vatican rules for the declaration of a saint.

The second miracle attributed to Pope John Paul’s intercession is the inexplicable curing of a woman from Costa Rica who prayed to him for help with her medical condition on the day of his Beatification. Details of that miracle are due to be announced in Costa Rica today.

In the case of Pope John XXIII, Pope Francis has waved the customary rules which require a second miracle after Beatification, Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said. Pope John was Beatified in 2000.

The hugely popular Pope John Paul II is revered by many Catholics in Scotland, following his visit to the country in 1982. He was the first Pope to visit Scotland (he is pictured above kissing the ground on his arrival at Edinburgh Airport) and celebrated Mass in front of thousands of pilgrims at Glasgow’s Bellahouston Park as well as addressing the country’s young Catholics at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.

There have been early suggestions that the Canonisation ceremony could take place on December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, which this year falls on a Sunday.