Vatican recognizes after-death miracle by John Paul

In April 2005, the month that Pope John Paul II died, Pope Benedict XVI placed his immensely popular predecessor on the fast track to sainthood, waiving the traditional five-year waiting period. Now Benedict has officially recognized one of two miracles needed for John Paul to become a saint. The beatification ceremony has been set for May 1 in Rome, after which the late pope will be officially recognized by the church as "the Blessed John Paul II."

John Paul II was credited with healing French nun Sister Marie Simon-Pierre of Parkinson's disease, an incurable ailment that he too had suffered. According to the Vatican, the sister's fellow nuns prayed to John Paul asking him to heal her. Then, during one particularly rough night in June 2005, Simon-Pierre claims, she wrote John Paul's name down a sheet of paper and was completely cured when she woke up the next morning. Vatican-appointed physicians researched her recovery and concluded it was a miracle.

Critics charge that the narrative has been cooked up to rally Catholics losing faith after sexual abuse scandals. Last year a Polish newspaper reported that a physician who examined Simon-Pierre was convinced that she didn't have Parkinson's but a similar disease of the nervous system that could go into sudden remission.

The Polish paper also reported that Simon-Pierre's disease had returned, which would call into question the miracle claim. But the Episcopal Conference of France shot down that report, declaring that Simon-Pierre was fully recovered from Parkinson's disease, and the Vatican swiftly moved to cement John Paul's power as a healer.

The Vatican has said it does not consider the thousands of allegations of priests committing sexual abuse during John Paul's 25-year reign to be a detriment to his ascension to sainthood. This, along with the sped-up proceedings, gives pause to some Catholics. Stephen Hough, a Catholic who often writes about the church and theology for The Telegraph, calls the push to make John Paul a saint "fanciful and arbitrary."

"The beatification of John Paul II makes the Church seem more and more like a gentleman's club with an inner circle of connections and privileges," Hough wrote in a Friday blog post. "Its critics have said as much for centuries, and disagreeing with them has today become just a little more difficult."

(2003 photo of Pope John Paul II: AP/Massimo Sambucetti)