THOUSANDS of pilgrims held up the funeral service for five minutes by chanting that the late pontiff should be made a saint immediately.

The cry “Santo, santo, santo” went up as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, the Dean of the College of Cardinals and John Paul II’s long-serving ideological “enforcer”, led the service and delivered a eulogy for “our beloved Pope”.

Many held up huge banners in Italian reading “Santo subito”, meaning “a saint at once”. The campaign received a boost the day after the Pope’s death when Cardinal Angelo Sodano, his former Secretary of State, referred to him as “John Paul the Great”.

Vatican officials said that despite the popular pressure there were “procedures to be followed” which meant that he could not be canonised instantly. The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, said that although John Paul II’s greatness was beyond doubt, “the Church is always wise to wait before rushing into canonisation”.

In the 2,000 years of the papacy, 78 popes have been made saints. The two popes to be given the title “Great”, Leo I (reigned 440-61) and Gregory I (590-604), were made saints by popular acclamation. Vatican officials said that the days of making saints by popular acclaim were “long past” and that nowadays “clear procedures” were laid down by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

There is a two-stage process under which candidates for sainthood are first beatified and given the title “Blessed”, and only later canonised. Candidates for beatification must be shown to be responsible for at least one “medically inexplicable” miracle, either in their lifetime or through prayers of intercession after they have died. Candidates for sainthood must have performed two such miracles.

John Paul II has already been credited with a miracle. Felipe de Jesús Badillo, a Mexican, said this week that the Pope cured his terminally ill son during a visit to Mexico in 1990.

He said that the boy, Herón Badillo, then 4, was suffering from leukaemia. “Little Herón changed after the Pope touched him, kissed his hairless little head and spoke to him,” he said. “After that he began eating and recovered without medicine.”

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