Historic canonization honors modern popes, John Paul II and John XXIII

ROME -- Pope John Paul II, on the cusp of the fastest canonization in recent history, will be honored in a double ceremony tomorrow in Vatican City, along with a pope whose death 51 years ago spurred the first modern fast-track sainthood campaign.

On Sunday, Pope Francis, 77, will declare the sainthood of John Paul II, who died nine years ago, and John XXIII, who died in 1963, in the first double pope canonization since the Middle Ages.

As many as 800,000 pilgrims are expected to watch Francis bring together two sainthood drives that came to represent two of the most influential visions for today's church.

Neither campaign fully sidestepped the protocol and miracle investigation of modern-day canonization, but both benefited from shortcuts that sped up the process.

"Sainthood Now," the slogan on banners held by mourners at John Paul II's funeral in 2005, has come to symbolize the fervor of both camps.

"These were two popes who had the courage to innovate," said Andrea Tornielli, author and coordinator of Italian newspaper La Stampa's Vatican Insider news site. "For both popes there was this widespread fame of saintliness."

The drive for John Paul, the Polish-born Karol Wojtyla, was kick-started immediately after his death by then-newly elected Pope Benedict XVI, in breach of the standard five-year waiting period. For John XXIII, whose campaign developed more slowly, it was Francis who cut through the red tape by waiving the Vatican's two-miracle requirement.

That departure from tradition gave Francis the chance to honor John XXIII, an Italian who introduced the Mass in vernacular, alongside John Paul II, whose worldwide celebrity remains fresh though his later years were marred by revelations about sexual abuse carried out by priests.

The legacies of John XXIII and John Paul II continue to influence church strategy as its leaders wrestle with issues such as divorce and contraception and plan remedies for the sexual abuse of children by priests. Policy debates within the Vatican are often engaged by officials who identify with either John, on the one hand, or John Paul II, on the other.

Francis "recognized that many progressive Catholics loved John XXIII but have reservations about John Paul II, and many conservatives loved John Paul II and have reservations about John XXIII," said Thomas Reese, senior analyst at the National Catholic Reporter. The joint canonization was done "very purposefully as a way to reconcile different voices in the church."