A Judger of Souls Decides Over John Paul's Sainthood

ROME — Evidence overflows from hundreds of boxes stacked to the ceiling in room after room at the Catholic Diocese of Rome — photos, drawings, letters and other items that Church officials are scouring for the answer to a question: Is Pope John Paul II a saint?

The task here at the office of the Postulator of the Cause for Beatification and Canonization is to judge souls, a complex job even when the soul in question doesn't belong to a spiritual superhero such as John Paul, who died in 2005 as one of the most popular pontiffs in history.

Located down a towering marble hallway, through a locked glass door, the office is tasked with determining whether John Paul meets the Roman Catholic Church's two broad standards of sainthood: His life deserves to be imitated, and he has demonstrated a post-mortem power to help people who pray to him, proving he is in heaven with God.

So far, investigators are coming down in his favor. Their leader told reporters recently that beatification, or elevation to the status of "blessed," often an intermediate step toward sainthood, could take place next spring.