Poland's Catholic Church is launching a beatification process for the parents of St John Paul II, with the same postulator, Mgr Stanislaw Oder, who led work on the late pontiff's canonisation.
A statement from the southern Krakow archdiocese said the beatification tribunal, headed by Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski and staffed by local clergy, would begin with a Mass on Thursday in the Blessed Virgin basilica at the couple's Wadowice hometown, and would be tasked with demonstrating they "practised heroic virtues, enjoyed a reputation for sanctity and mediated requests for God's grace".
The author of a newly published joint biography, Milena Kindziuk, told Poland's Catholic Information Agency St John Paul II, who was canonised in April 2014, would serve posthumously as the tribunal's "key witness".
Born in Krakow to a leather craftsman's family, Emilia Kaczorowska (1884-1929) married Karol Wojtyla (1879-1941), an army recruitment officer, in February 1906 at Krakow's Sts Peter and Paul church, and gave birth to the future Pope, Karol, on 18 May 1920.
A daughter, Olga, died soon after birth, while an elder brother, Edmund, died of scarlet fever while working as a doctor in 1932.
A beatification process for the couple, both buried in Krakow's Rakowicki Cemetery, was approved in March by the Vatican's Congregation for the Causes of Saints.
Polish Church leaders wrote to Bishops Conferences across the world in February, requesting support in having St John Paul II, whose hundredth birthday on 18 May is to be marked by nationwide Masses of thanksgiving, proclaimed a doctor of the Church and seventh patron saint of Europe.
A beatification process for the Krakow lay mystic Jan Tyranowski (1901-1947), who helped nurture the future Pope's vocation, was also launched in 1997 by the Krakow archdiocese. However, the planned beatification of another close associate, Poland's former Catholic primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski (1901-1981), set for 7 June in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square, has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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