[img]https://www.sermonindex.net/images/forum/2004/may/featured_news.gif[/img]Pope John Paul II's closest aide said yesterday that he hoped the late pontiff would be made a saint during World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany next month."Everything is possible, but I don't know if it would be opportune," said Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz. But, he added, the Cologne setting would be perfect because "no one loved young people like the pope and they loved him. It would be wonderful for a German pope to canonise a Polish pope in Cologne."Speculation has been swirling about whether Pope Benedict XVI might beatify John Paul during the World Youth Day celebrations - placing the late pope on an even faster track to possible sainthood. Already, Benedict waived the five-year waiting period and allowed the beatification process to officially begin just three months after John Paul died on 2 April. The five-year wait was a reform of John Paul II's: previously the normal period before someone could be declared a saint was 50 years, later reduced to 10.
_________________SI Moderator - Greg Gordon