Pope Benedict XVI might be able to beatify John Paul II in a ceremony in Poland, the head of the Vatican's saint-making office says, a day after the pontiff gave his predecessor a headstart on the road toward sainthood.
"It's clear that it's possible," Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins said on Italian state TV, which asked if he thought Benedict might some day lead the beatification should procedures for that last formal step before sainthood are completed in the present pope's papacy.
"It all depends on the Holy Father. Why couldn't Benedict XVI possibly beatify his immediate predecessor in his native land?" the cardinal said of the late pontiff.
Earlier in the day, the cardinal had a private meeting with the 78-year-old Benedict, who was elected last month to succeed John Paul after the Polish pontiff's death.
On Friday Benedict said he had waived the mandatory five-year waiting period for the start of the process toward John Paul's beatification.
Starting with a ceremony in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday in which two nuns were beatified, Benedict has made clear he intends to go back to previous papal traditions of asking cardinals or bishops to lead such ceremonies.
John Paul led beatifications himself. But previous popes had delegated that duty, making exceptions for extraordinary figures, and Saraiva Martin's remarks appeared to indicate Benedict could make such an exception in his predecessor's case.
Popes must lead canonisation, or sainthood, ceremonies.
Right after John Paul's death on April 2, his admirers - ranging from rank-and-file faithful to top cardinals - started calling for fast-track sainthood for the pontiff, who led the Roman Catholic church for 26 years.
"It's a wonderful gesture," Saraiva Martins, who heads the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints, told La Stampa in an interview.
But waiving the waiting time doesn't imply dispensing with rigorous procedures, the cardinal noted.
Those steps include reviewing writings of the late pope and interviewing those who knew him.
Then, for beatification, a miracle, attributed to John Paul's intercession after his death, must be declared authentic after a Vatican-appointed panel of medical experts rule out any worldly explanation for healing.
A second miracle, attributed to John Paul's intercession after his beatification, would then be required to qualify for canonisation, or conferring of sainthood.
"Each cause has a history of its own," the cardinal said, declining to give a timeframe.
When John Paul waived the waiting time for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997 after a lifetime of caring for the downtrodden, her cause moved swiftly, and she was beatified by the pontiff in 2003.
Asked if the sainthood process is more complex for popes, the cardinal replied: "Generally yes, given the activity of the pope and the body of his written work."
"But," then, "virtually all of his (John Paul's) works are known."
Saraiva Martins added he had "no doubts at all" miracles would be approved.
Benedict's announcement during a meeting at the Basilica of St John Lateran with the Roman clergy drew a standing ovation. Benedict himself stood up in tribute to his predecessor.
Many noted Friday was the anniversary of the May 13, 1981, assassination attempt on John Paul in St Peter's Square at the hands of a Turkish gunman.
"This is a sign from heaven that we welcome with deep emotion," John Paul's longtime private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, told Vatican Radio.
"It's a reaffirmation of that which the people of God publicly expressed during the funeral: 'sainthood immediately,"' Dziwisz said, expressing "joy and gratefulness" for Benedict's decision.
Monsignor Gianfranco Bella, the official who is responsible for starting John Paul's beatification cause, said the process of gathering documents and contacting witnesses hadn't yet begun but that he hoped to start it "as soon as possible".
"Things have to be done well. They can't be rushed through," said Bella, who as the judicial vicar for the ordinary tribunal in the diocese of Rome is responsible for launching beatification processes for popes.
He suggested approving a miracle wouldn't prove too difficult.
"Certainly he had many gifts, and touched so many people," he said. "Even the conversion of one person is a miracle."
Following John Paul's death, Italian newspapers were rife with reports of alleged cures attributed to John Paul while he was still alive, but those don't count as the required miracles.
A Vatican official, the Reverend Peter Gumpel, who is spearheading the beatification cause for another pope, Pius XII, noted that vast volumes of material will have to be prepared and submitted to panels of historians, theologians, bishops and cardinals for consideration.
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