A French nun's recovery from Parkinson's disease could be the "miracle" needed by the Vatican to beatify Pope John Paul II. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, 46, claims her Parkinson's disease disappeared after praying to the late Pope.
The nun had been diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2001 . In a testimony sent to the Vatican after the death of the Pope (who also had the disease) she wrote that from April 2005 her illness got worse until she could no longer write or carry out her duties. On 13 May 2005, Pope Benedict XVI announced the beginning of the beatification process, waiving the traditional five-year waiting period after cries of Santo Subito! (Sainthood now!) were heard at Pope John Paul's funeral. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre, who works in a hospital in Paris, wrote in her testimony to the Vatican that "from 14 May, my fellow sisters started asking John Paul II to intercede for my healing. They prayed incessantly, tirelessly."
On the night of 2 June she says she felt "compelled" to write, and was suddenly able to write legibly. By morning, she claims she was no longer in terrible pain, and she stopped taking her medicine. Five days later her neurologist was reportedly astonished at "the disappearance of all symptoms of the disease". Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre's case is the "most impressive" among the cures attributed to the late Pope, according to Mgr Slawomir Oder, who is in charge of the case for John Paul II's canonisation.
One miracle gets a beatification, a second miracle is required for canonisation (okay so it is a bit more complicated than just that) so it might not be long before John Paul is St John Paul. I presume that he will then need a feast day and a few things to be Patron Saint of!
What could he take on? The patron saint of i-pods? boy bands? Tivo (and sky+ and v+) boxes?
Perhaps, but he may take on some of the workload of older, more hard [pressed saints. Take St George, for example the poor guy is the patron saint of so many things it must be nothing but intercession after intercession for him...
St George has England, Georgia (no surprise there) Catalonia, Ethiopia, Canada, Bulgaria, the Greek Army. Beirut, Genoa, Palestinians, Lithuania, Malta, sou ts, Freemasons, saddle makers, Serbia, Moscow, Istanbul, same sex marriages (possibly), herpes and syphilis and many, many more.
I'm sure a canonised John Paul could help out a little - How about the pox, herpes, boy scouts and Serbia?
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