MIRACLE

John Paul II Moves Closer to Sainthood

May be canonized by the end of this year.

Catholic authorities are ascribing a second miracle to Pope John Paul II, putting him on the fast track to sainthood. The pope is said to have healed a Costa Rican woman on May 1, 2011, the night of his beatification ceremony in St. Peter's Square, after she prayed to the late pontiff for help. John Paul’s first miracle was curing a French nun of Parkinson’s disease, a recovery that Vatican medial experts said couldn’t be explained by science, and was approved just six months after John Paul’s death in 2005. Now all he needs is a papal signature to be canonized, which many theologians expect to happen by the end of the year.