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	Flock Hails John Paul Blessing The Australian May 2, 2011 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/flock-hails-john-paul-blessing/story-e6frg6nf-1226048010422 HUNDREDS of thousands of pilgrims gathered in Rome last night to watch Pope Benedict XVI confer near-sainthood status on his predecessor John Paul II. Many thousands more watched the ritual around the world, including on giant TV screens outside St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney. Cardinal George Pell, head of the Catholic Church in Australia, blessed a statue of John Paul earlier in the day. The blessing was attended by more than a hundred faithful onlookers. Cardinal Pell said John Paul was a "heroically good person". "I think John Paul II was one of the most important and impressive popes in history. I think that's one of the reasons why people call him John Paul the Great," he said. He nominated John Paul's role in stabilising the church in the Western world and the collapse of communism as particularly praiseworthy, saying both were attested to by the huge numbers of world leaders and faithful who had attended his funeral. John Paul, who was Polish, became pope in 1978, the first non-Italian in more than four centuries. Joanna Ochudzawa, 32, a Polish Australian from the Sydney suburb of Castle Hill, said the beatification was special for Polish people. "It was a fantastic occasion when I heard he was being beatified. It renewed so many people's faith," Ms Ochudzawa said as she was prepared to watch with her husband and four children at St Mary's last night. John Paul died on April 2, 2005 from Parkinson's disease. Although widely loved and respected, he was also criticised for allegedly being complicit in covering up abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years. Representatives of a Chicago-based international group called the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests marked the beatification with a series of events held in 62 cities across seven countries, at which they asked congregants to sign a pledge to report suspicions of child-sex abuse to secular authorities. Nicky Davis, a member of the Australian SNAP branch, described John Paul's beatification as "insulting" to abuse victims. Cardinal Pell denied John Paul had been guilty of any form of cover-up: "We know that in different parts of the world the matters weren't as well handled as they should have been, but we can't lay the blame for that at his feet," he said. The beatification ceremony at St Peter's Square in Vatican City conferred "blessed" status on John Paul -- bringing him one step away from sainthoodAfter the mass, the Pope was to pay respects in front of John Paul's coffin, which was exhumed on Friday and placed inside St Peter's basilica. It will be laid to rest again today in a chapel near Michelangelo's famous Pieta statue. The beatification became possible only once the Vatican confirmed after years of research a miracle attributed to John Paul's intercession -- the healing of a French nun, Marie Simon-Pierre, from Parkinson's disease.
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