Pope Beatifies John Paul

St. Peter's Square in Vatican City was packed Sunday for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. The ceremony puts the late pope on the brink of sainthood.

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GUY RAZ, host:

In Rome today, Pope Benedict XVI beatified his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. That takes John Paul to the brink of sainthood. It's the fastest it's happened in modern times.

As NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports now from Rome, almost a million people from around the world came to witness that event, many of them young Catholics inspired by John Paul.

Pope BENEDICT XVI: (Foreign language spoken)

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: When Pope Benedict pronounced John Paul II beatified, the crowd packing St. Peter's Square began waving flags. And when a massive portrait of John Paul was unveiled on the basilica's facade, the crowd erupted in applause and tears of joy.

(Soundbite of applause)

POGGIOLI: In his homily, Benedict spoke of the pontiff he served closely for 23 years and what he called his strong and generous apostolic faith. He quoted the words, which perhaps most symbolized John Paul's papacy.

Pope BENEDICT XVI: (Foreign language spoken)

POGGIOLI: Do not be afraid, open, open wide the doors to Christ. Benedict said John Paul turned back, with the strength of a titan, a tide, which appeared irreversible, the tide of Marxism. And he helped believers to not be afraid to be called Christian.

The first non-Italian pontiff since the Renaissance, John Paul was one the most beloved popes of all time. Media savvy and peripatetic, he preferred to leave the Roman curia behind and bring his spiritual message across the globe.

Veteran Vatican analyst Marco Politi lists what he says are John Paul's three greatest achievements.

Mr. MARCO POLITI (Vatican Analyst): He has transformed the papacy into the spokesman of human rights. He has opened a dialogue between Jews, Muslims and Christians. And third point, a great act of repentment of the Catholic Church for the errors and horrors committed through centuries.

POGGIOLI: Over 27 years as pope, John Paul became a religious beacon not just for Catholics. In the lead-up to the beatification, one visitor here was Christy Cook from Wyoming, a Mormon who said John Paul's message benefited all of mankind.

Ms. CHRISTY COOK: And it makes us happy that someone can speak without fear of criticism of Christianity.

POGGIOLI: But Jason Berry, author of a landmark investigation of the church sex abuse crisis, says the many unpunished clerical crimes and cover-ups that occurred on his watch were John Paul's greatest failure.

Mr. JASON BERRY (Investigative Journalist): Someone who was so fearless in his confrontation with the communist empire, I for one do not understand how he could not have engaged in the same fearless introspection about the church internal.

POGGIOLI: Berry believes John Paul was unable to see just how severe the crisis was.

Mr. BERRY: Because for him, the most important thing was unity. The church had to be unified.

POGGIOLI: Other critics cite the crackdown on dissident theologians as one of the many contradictions in a complex papacy, a people's pope who became a spiritual superstar, but whose orthodoxy alienated many Catholics who began leaving the church in droves.

(Soundbite of music)

Unidentified Man: (Singing in foreign language)

Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.

(Soundbite of music)

Unidentified Group: (Singing in foreign language)

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