Beatification of John Paul II by Pope Benedict XVI got him closer to attainment of Sainthood

John Paul II was beatified by his successor Pope Benedict XVI on 1 May 2011.  John Paul II was earlier proclaimed venerable by his successor on 19 December 2009. The beatification was watched by 1.5 million pilgrims who flooded Rome. Beatification is the first major milestone on the path to possible sainthood, one of the Catholic Church’s highest honours. John Paul II with the beatification moved a step closer to sainthood in one of the largest Vatican Masses in history. Following the beatification he will now be known as Blessed John Paul II.

Benedict XVI had begun the beatification process for his predecessor, bypassing the normal restriction that five years must pass after a person's death before the beatification process can begin.

Blessed Pope John Paul II was born on 18 May 1920 and reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of The Holy See from 16 October 1978 till his death on 2 April 2005. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted 26 years and 168 days. Only Pope Pius IX (1846–1878) who served 31 years, had reigned longer. Pope John Paul II is the only Slavic or Polish pope to date, and was the first non-Italian Pope since Dutch Pope Adrian VI.

John Paul is universally credited with helping bring down communism in his native Poland with support for the Solidarity labor movement that accelerated the fall of the Iron Curtain.

However his critics claim that John Paul's legacy is clouded by evidence of a dwindling faith: empty churches in Europe, too few priests in North and South America, priests who violate their celibacy requirement in places like Africa and a general decline of Catholicism in former Christian strongholds. While his defenders argue that an entire generation of new priests owe their vocations to John Paul, and that millions of lay Catholics found their faith during the World Youth Days, which were a hallmark of his papacy.