Warsaw (PMN)—Pope John Paul II moved closer to canonization on December 19, 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI approved a decree recognizing that his predecessor had lived the Christian faith heroically. The Vatican said Benedict approved the "heroic virtues decree," one of the key steps in the procedure by which the Church recognizes its saints, following the recommendation of a Vatican panel of experts.

The next step is the recognition of a miracle attributed to John Paul, who died in 2005. That is expected to happen early next year, after which he can be beatified, the last step before sainthood. Church officials say they have found a miracle attributed to the intercession of Pope John Paul with God.

Crowds at John Paul's funeral on April 8, 2005 chanted "santo subito" ["saint immediately"].

In May, 2005, a month after his death, Benedict put John Paul on the fast track by dispensing with Church rules that normally impose a five-year waiting period after a candidate’s death before the procedure that leads to sainthood can start.

The initial phases of a sainthood cause can usually take decades or hundreds of years. In the case of the Polish pope, they were completed in less than three years. Last year, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the official in charge of the beatification process, finished a document about 2,000 pages long summarizing evidence that John Paul, who was the first non-Italian pope in 450 years, should be made a saint. The evidence included testimony from hundreds of people and scrutiny of John Paul’s life, spoken words and writings.

According to church sources in Rome, the case of the beatification process of the Solidarity chaplain Jerzy Popieluszko will also be finalized next year.