On the third anniversary of John Paul’s death, Pope Benedict XVI talked about the possibility of his predecessor’s sainthood by evoking his “many human and supernatural qualities.”

Normally the Vatican waits five years after someone’s death before considering the person’s sainthood, but Pope Benedict hurried the process of beatification, which is the last step towards sainthood, for John Paul.

At John Paul’s funeral, on April 8, mourners chanted “Santo Subito,” which means “Sainthood Now.”

Church officials said they found a miracle that could lead to beatification.

A 47-year-old nun, sister Marie Simon-Pierre, who was suffering from Parkinson’s, declared her disease disappeared two months after John Paul’s death, after she had prayed to him.

If the pope approves the miracle, John Paul will be beatified.

Other testimonies come from ordinary people who have sent hundreds of letters to the pope’s office, to say their prayers were answered, after praying to John Paul. According to Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the late pope’s secretary for almost 40 years, many of them have been cured from cancer or have been able to have children, after they had been declared infertile.

John Paul was born in Poland and died on April 2, 2005, at age 84. Sainthood can take hundreds of years, but in his case, Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Vatican official who is in charge of the beatification process said he almost finished a very long document which proves that John Paul should already be made a saint. The document includes information about John Paul’s life and testimonies from witnesses.

"I remember thinking that a saint had died," Oder said, recalling John Paul’s death, as the Associated Press reports.