It has been nearly five years since Pope John Paul II died, and many people expect the Vatican to approve his beatification sometime very soon. Today on the Vatican Report, we will look at what has to happen before Pope John Paul can be declared a saint. I am John Thavis, Catholic News Service Rome bureau chief.

And I am Carol Glatz, CNS Rome correspondent. Last fall, after several years of study, Pope Benedict approved a decree that said Pope John Paul II led a life of heroic Christian virtues. That was a giant step toward his beatification, which is when the church declares a person blessed. But before beatification can take place, a second step is needed: a miracle has to be attributed to Pope John Paul’s intercession. A lot of people in Rome thought that would happen very quickly -- perhaps in time for the anniversary of his election in mid-October.

But so far that has not happened. And in fact, the Vatican has scheduled several canonizations for Oct. 17, which seems to make it less likely that Pope John Paul would be beatified the same weekend. The fact is, there is no real timetable when it comes to miracles. Four years ago, a French nun was said to have been miraculously cured from Parkinson’s disease, the same illness Pope John Paul suffered from. The Vatican is still studying that case, but it is being very careful. For one thing, with a neurological disease like Parkinson’s it is possible for symptoms to disappear, but that is not the same as being cured.

Now, when tying to judge whether a cure is miraculous or not, the Vatican relies on medical consultants from a number of different fields. They look at the patient’s medical history, the tests performed, and treatment and therapies that were attempted. Just because a person returns to good health after prayers to someone like Pope John Paul does not guarantee it will be considered a miracle -- sometimes the medical experts say the original diagnosis was wrong, or that the cure was the result of a medical intervention.

Traditionally, when looking at potential miracles, the church has insisted that the illness be incurable or extremely difficult to treat, and that spontaneous cures were not known to occur in similar illnesses. The cure must be unexpected and instantaneous, as well as complete and lasting. The doctors consulted by the Vatican do not declare a miracle. What happens is this: if the majority of a commission of physicians votes that a healing has no natural or scientific explanation, the case is passed on to a commission of theologians. And these theologians then judge whether the healing could have been the response to a prayer request.

The French nun who had Parkinson’s is only one of many cases that have been reported to the Vatican, of an unexplained cure or sign that followed prayers to Pope John Paul II. For example, last year, a man in Ohio was shot in the head execution-style and his family was told he would not survive. But he did live, after the hospital chaplain gave him a rosary blessed by Pope John Paul. Then there was the 9-year-old Polish boy with kidney disease and unable to walk, until he visited the tomb of Pope John Paul. According to those who accompanied him, the boy got up from his wheelchair and walked out of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Vatican does not have the time or resources to investigate all these reports simultaneously. They go case-by-case, so certifying a miracle can take months or years. In the meantime, beatification just has to wait, sometimes indefinitely. After someone is beatified, the next step in the process is canonization, when the church declares the person a saint. There is just one requirement: another miracle. I am John Thavis.

And I am Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service.