nine years old. instead of turning away from god, he turned towards god and that's been the life that he has led throughout and a lot of the things he he did, we're talking about how many things he has given the church, that he created more than anybody else, but one of the saints that he created was founder of opus today and the reason this is so important today, when pope john paul was carol, and opus dei means the work of god and this organization he elevated to a-- it's in the church now. he understood everyday people whether they're janitors, journalists or, they can glorify god through their

everyday work and it's important, young people understood that, they didn't have to be lofty theologians in order to serve god, many did, but they could serve god in their own life. and american saints, why we don't see many american saints, well, the fact of the matter is, there are actually several american saints, but only two american born, but there are several causes now at the vatican for american saints. take a look at this. well, american catholics in the 1950's, archbishop was the brightest star preaching weekly on his own network tv program and became an international celebrity. and now he died in 1979, declared a saint. >> i believe that, you know, this man had such an impact. we need the patron saint for mass media and so essential today in our lives and this is

why we need someone to intercede for us up there. >> and in a few weeks, the one time assistant will help deliver official documents to the vatican beginning the sainthood process. and franco remembered the long list of hollywood elite who sought an audience with the bishop. >> jack benny and george j jetsill and even an unknown actor called, what was his name? oh, ronald reagan. >> and another has delivered papers for the cause of cardinal terrence cook, who shep herded new york city catholics. >> when he died so many stories came to how he he reached out to people and how he was there for them, not in the same kind of public way as someone like pope john paul ii, but in a way that truly

touched the hearts of many, many people. >> bishop gerald walsh who worked with cardinal cook, says that he kept his own suffering while keeping a full schedule. >> for 15, 18 years he had cancer and no one knew it except for people who knew with him. he carried on a schedule that would kill most people. seven parishes, schools, ten huge counties, omnipresent and going for blood transfusions quietly the in the middle of the morning. >> though, there are a handful of naturalized americans sainted like sister francis cabrini born in italy. american-born saints are rare in the catholic church. so far there are just two. first was elizabeth ann seaton who founded the sisters of charity of st. joseph's in new york. cannonized by pope john paul vi, and a few years later katherine drexell, the founder

of xavier university. >> and the causes of sainthood are at the vatican. the unlike pope john paul ii, investigation consist take years if not decades, but the honor can be worth the wait. >> i think everybody acknowledges what kind of impact they've had as catholics in this country and would love to see the day all of them are announced universally for the church. >> and we thank lauren green for that very interesting. let's go back to vatican city, pope benedict. >> the redeemer of men, inspire for the fullness in your life at easter, to-- women and child are he respected and promoted. and these prayers i call upon

you and your families the pea peace. >> and now in the german language. . [speaking german] >> the father asked that we may live the words of the gospel demonstrating to the world the mercy of god and the love of christ. now in the spanish language. keep in mind of course the youth world day this august

will be in madrid, spain. many of here are present for that great event this year. the holy father is calling to mind john paul visits to america and places known trusted god and their love for mary. and their affection for the successor of st. peter.

[applaus [applause] >> and now in the portugese language. language. >> . >> asking us to entrust ourselves to the intersession of john paul ii and cling to his words do not be afraid,

open wide the doors to christ. [applaus [applause] >> and now in the polish language, of course, great cheers of the many poles who have come down for the service. next to the italians present, the polish are the the largest number of prilgrims here.

he welcomes all from poland as well as through television and radio in poland and asking that blessed john paul ii may bless his home country of pola poland. [applaus [applause] >> and now the italian language. the he greets the president of the republic.

>> . >> he's thing thanking him the success to organize this day. and the mayor of rome has recognizing that the romans had been blessed for 26 years of being with john paul ii and ask that they wouldn't mind to maybe leave the city this weekend, not to avoid the beatification, but to leave room for many pilgrims who come so there will be more space for them, those who came from far away who did not have the blessing of 26 years of john paul ii.

the holy father is greeting all of those to st. peters square, in adjacent streets and places through rome, watching through television and listening to radio and again thanks all of of those who worked to make this day so special.

and together with blessed john paul ii the to renew our love to the blessed virgin mary, mother of the church. and rejoyce the virgin mary, hallelujah, the lord has truly risen, hallelujah. let us pray. oh, god, with the resurrection of thy son the lord jesus christ gave us joy to the world and through the session of virgin mary, we have enjoy the everlasting life, through jesus christ, glory be to the father, son, and the holy spirit, and glory as it shall be, world without end, amen.

and the faithful departed eternal rest grant to them, oh, lord, and perpetual light shine on them. may they rest in peace, amen. and now, the final blessing. the lord be with you. blessed be the name of the lord. in the name of the lord.

may almighty god bless you, the father, son, and the holy spirit. ♪ >> the decon sang in latin, hallelujah, hallelujah, the mass has ended, go in peace, hallelujah, hallelujah. the people responded: thanks be to god, hallelujah, hallelujah. and now we'll listen as the choir sings a hymn written especially for this

beatification mass, blessed john paul ii. as you can imagine, the as they sang the words, john paul ii open the doors to christ, do not be afraid. open wide your heart to the love of god: holy father enters the altar with a kiss. ♪

♪

>> as we see that marvellous portrait of john paul ii, that captures his vitality, his faith, his spirit, what pope benedict calls his humility, across the charisma. this morning, we've been witnessing the historic moment of beatification of pope john paul ii, the next step toward sainthood. and with us, contributor, father jonathan morris who was at the vatican and your sense as we listen to the hymn "do not be afraid" written in honor of this event and the message that the pontiff left us, to not be afraid, of christianity, of faith, of

life. >> that's right, and even of evil. do not be afraid of evil. do not be afraid of suffering. these are the words that he proclaimed so famously in his first homily, as pope. do not be afraid and then he he said open wide the door, wide the doors to christ. and he lived it. he lived it during the nazi occupation of his homeland, poland and lived it in the death of all of his family members and lived it in being named a pope, and he lived it also in his suffering as we heard in the homily. he was stripped of everything he had by the very god who he had dedicated his life to and yet, he stood there and said, do not be afraid. and that great polish accent, said so well in english. >> and he in many ways paralleled the suffering of jesus some would say and he obviously suffered the 1981

assassination attempt and parkenson's. and the first attempt at sainthood and miracle with him, with marie pierre, the french nun who says she's been cured of parken son's because she prayed to the pontiff. father, what's the next step and what can we expect in the next couple of years? >> so, there's been thousands of apparent o-supposed miracles submitted to the congregation to the cause of the saints. house of letters saying, not only was there a big miracle like healing park son's, but i had a job and ended up healing had a relationship that was broken. i had fallen into sin and got back up. those are the real life miracles through the intersession of john paul ii people are claiming. the next step though is to choose one of those that doctors can say, there is no natural explanation for this,

and then that theologians would say, look, there's intersession through john paul ii, and we can only claim this is from god, god alone that's the next step and another big celebration like this probably in a few years. >> father jonathan, now pope benedict made his way to the altar where the coffin of pope john paul ii has been placed and he's praying. what's the significance of this? >> this is a remembrance of a sacredness of human life. that here his remains are laid out right there in front of the first pope, peter. and we're recognizing that yes, he has died, yes, he is in heaven, we are, we are proclaiming, i mean, the church through the beatification, but his time here in this life. his remains, his body are also important. why? because they were temples of the holy spirit so right there next to the remains of peter the first pope, john paul ii is placed and people are going

and saying, thank you, thank you so much, intercede before god for me, you're my friend, pray for me and that's why there's going to be millions of people, catholics and non-catholics a lot and saying i need a break in my life, i need a blessing, give me a hand. >> now, father, i understand as many as a million, if not more people made their way to the square and as you said at the beginning of the coverage, some were not able to get in. for how long do you think that people will come to st. peter's square as a part of this ceremony, this incredibly historic day today, to feel the sense of hope and faith, that we witnessed today? >> the lines are going to be long. that's why i'm going to get some pasta before i get in the line and knowing it will be there when i get back. and no doubt. the big road that leads up to the vatican, way at the end,

way at the end there are people camped out sleeping and as close as they could get. this morning, people trying to get in, no way. it's not about pageantry, it's about love and that's what we're seeing here, love of a man who lived heroic virtues and example to us all. >> and now, father, you say it's about that. with what we see and the awesome sight of the ceremony, and at the end of the day, in many ways, it's about faith and as you say, love. and do you think love for all mankind is really one of the lasting regularsies of pope john paul ii? >> it is, it is, eric, it's not a love that's based on human perfection, it's said that john paul ii went to confession every week, okay? john paul ii, part of his humility recognizing he wasn't perfect. the poapst aren't perfect. they make bad decisions sometimes and make bad decision ins their personal lives, but humility is saying

i'm not perfect and i'm going to get up again and love other people within my perfection and john paul ii did that and that's what we're celebrating. not his own perfection, but sank if ication of his soul. >> and to move forward in beatification, in this day and age, at the website, people can submit what they believed to be miracles and like to be considered. and who are the folks who actually sit down and review these alleged miracles to decide which is the one that actually could take pope john paul ii to sainthood? >> well, it's all run by what's called the congregation tore the causes of saints which is basically a vatican department and this department takes a look first at all of his life and which is this report of whether or not he lived this heroic virtue and

at the same time that same congregation has a whole panel of medical doctors, not all of whom are catholic, let me say, and their job is to tell these religious leaders. to tell the department head whether or not scientifically, medically if there can be a medical explanation, and there's a pretty good separation of forms here, not theologians, telling doctors it's a miracle, just the opposite. >> that's so interesting. and lauren green, the religious correspondent has been in rome and lauren, your thoughts and what we can expect to come as one would think that pope john paul ii, the blessed pope john paul will be headed toward sainthood. >> well, as the commentator said, many believe he was already a saint and taking the world time to catch up to it. long time personal secretary, cardinal said that he died a

saint. and i don't think this is' many people who would even counter that. they believe he's already a saint and it's just, we're just waiting for affirmation and confirmation and one other thing, another follower said to me, and not too long ago in st. peter's square was that john paul he taught a world how to pray, taught believers how to pray and then to live and then showed a world how to die and all through his life, you see this combination of faith and reason. and the sector world, separate those entities, faith and reason and you can have either one and you can't have both together. he lived out a different understanding of that. you have to have those. and it goes along with his life of truth, compassion, law and move, all of these things that a secular world likes to separate he fought together because he believes that's the true, true living out of god's love. god's law. they belong, actually, together. so he taught the world how to pray, how to live, how to die and i believe now that he is

teaching them how to live into eternity as the blessed john paul ii. >> and in his homily, pope benedict clearly indicated such a depth of meaning, as you say, faith, the personal example and what he did in fighting communism in what he said, opening the political system with the strength of a titan, as you say now, lauren, as he continued in his death. >> and absolutely, there is this sense about john paul ii, anybody who read this, follow religion like i do. read many of the writings and they're heady stuff and takes a theologians to separate and understand them. but he is a philosopher and he understands philosophy, a man of faith as well. make no mistake, he he understands the writings of freud and he understands all

of the writings and still a man of faith. he could debate the best of them on the level of