Rome (CNN) -- The Vatican announced Friday that John Paul II will be beatified later this year, putting him on the verge of sainthood.
The beatification ceremony will take place on May 1, 2011.
The beatification, which will make the late pope "the Blessed John Paul II". probably will draw hundreds of thousands of faithful to St. Peter's Square.
Medical and theological experts have credited John Paul II with the healing of a nun whose order prayed to him after he died in 2005. Sister Marie-Simon-Pierre says she was cured of Parkinson's disease.
Stepping from beatification to sainthood requires a second miracle.
The beatification of John Paul II is coming very fast in Vatican terms, a little over six years after his death. CNN
