So excited!

I have been wanting to report this but haven't had a moment because of my Rome trip and coming back to birthdays and Thanksgiving and a heap of work too. I'll let Joan Lewis tell you...

REPORTS SAY JOHN PAUL’S BEATIFICATION “IMMINENT” IN 2010

"During the funeral of Pope John Paul II on April 8, 2005, tens of thousands among the hundreds of thousands present in St. Peter Square began to spontaneously chant “Santo Subito,” meaning “make him a saint immediately.” When Benedict XVI waived the five-year waiting period, the cause for the canonization of John Paul opened in May 2008 and, after an initial period of work by the postulator on the diocesan phase of the cause in Poland, the case moved to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints in November 2008 for an initial review by theologians.

Reports are now circulating that the late Pope John Paul II is expected to be named venerable very soon and that his beatification is “imminent” and expected sometime in 2010. Citing Italy’s La Stampa daily paper, Warsaw Business News is even reporting that john Paul II, is set to be beatified on October 17, 2010, one day after what would have been the 32nd anniversary of his election in 1978. Other media are quoting Andrea Tornielli, a veteran Vatican watcher who writes for Il Giornale, who on Monday reported the meeting of cardinals and bishops who are members of the Congregation for the Cause of Saints and have been called to vote on the process of the beatification of John Paul II. Reports say the vote was unanimous to recommend that Pope Benedict XVI formally recognize that Pope John Paul II heroically lived the Christian virtues.

No word from the Vatican on these news reports, some of which point to an April 2010 beatifucation, others suggest May and yet several more mention October. The Pope signs decrees for beatifications and canonzations three times a year in a consistory - April, June or July – most often July - and again in December. Once signed the wheels go into motion to prepare the beatification ceremony.

Stay tuned for more on this story…"
(Story above from Joan's Rome)