There is a cult building up around the late Pope and we can be certain that the Church, especially his successor, will be quick to capitalise on this.

The Pope in death has a far greater universal appeal than most, if not all, the saints he himself canonised, a number totalling more than any of his predecessors.

In the early church, before the 10th century, people became saints by popular acclaim. Under this system, Pope John Paul II could already be considered a saint, if the interruptions to his funeral service by chants of "santo, santo, santo" and the banners held up reading "Santo Subito!" (Saint Now), are any guide.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, has already called him Pope John Paul "the Great", a title held by just two previous popes, Leo I and Gregory I, and a clear indication of the regard in which he is held by senior cardinals.

The Pope oversaw, although did not initiate, changes to the saint-making process that were incorporated into canon law in 1983. The most questionable change, according to Kenneth Woodward, author of the book Making Saints, was the elimination of the office of Defender of the Faith, the so-called Devil's Advocate.

Candidates for canonisation used to be subject to an adversarial process similar to that of defendants in court trials, with a Postulator for the Cause arguing against the Devil's Advocate.

The juridical model has been replaced by an academic one, and a long document rather like an academic dissertation is now all that is needed to recognise that a mortal has joined the company of saints. This can only be of benefit to John Paul II.

Few deny the Pope had faults. They have been well chronicled in recent days, along with his "heroic virtues", but this will count for little in the process to come.

Woodward admits that the Pope's motives in his many beatifications and canonisations were sound. Many were men and women from remote parts of the world, such as Africa, where the people had no saint of their own.

In his canonisations, the Pope created new bonds between newly-evangelised peoples, making the process of canonisation itself a symbol of unity in the Church.

Thus would his own canonisation be perceived as an act creating a new bond of unity. It would perpetuate the drama he so loved, from his acting days in Poland, and learnt to use to such great effect throughout his life and most powerfully at his death.

If today's crowds are any guide, Rome can expect millions more when the Mass is celebrated to mark the canonisation of John Paul the Great. This affair is not over yet, by any means.

So the world, including his critics, should assume it is going to happen. It is just a matter of when. Under the rules set by the Church, at least five years has to pass after a holy person's death before the canonisation process can begin.

And unlike most of the Catholic Church's rules, this was one that can be broken, as it was recently in the case of Mother Teresa, now beatified and on the fast track to sainthood.

John Paul II will be walking in her footsteps almost before the white smoke has cleared from the sky above the Sistine Chapel. Those who feared this Pope would never be gone were right. He never will be.

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