Pope John Paul II to be beatified May 1

VATICAN CITY (AP) — During his 2005 funeral Mass, crowds at the Vatican shouted for Pope John Paul II to be made a saint immediately, chanting "Santo Subito!" for one of the most important and beloved popes in history.

His successor heard their call and today, in the fastest process on record, set May 1 as the date for John Paul's beatification — a key step toward Catholicism's highest honor and a major morale boost for a church reeling from the clerical sex-abuse scandal.

Pope Benedict XVI set the date after declaring that a French nun's recovery from Parkinson's disease was the miracle needed for John Paul to be beatified. A second miracle is needed for the Polish-born John Paul to be made a saint.

The May 1 ceremony — which Benedict himself will celebrate — is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Rome for a precedent-setting Mass: never before has a pope beatified his immediate predecessor.