John Paul II could be beatified by next year

Kenneth Hynek • 20th Mar 2009 • Religion, Catholicism
Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Dziennik, Krakow, Poland, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope John Paul II, Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Church

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That’s what the Polish press is evidently reporting, at any rate:

Pope John Paul II could be beatified on April 2, 2010, exactly five years after his death, according to a report in the Polish newspaper Dziennik, which claims the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has already made the decision.

At the beginning of this month, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow said the beatification process of Pope John Paul II was about to be concluded and that Benedict XVI himself wanted to close the process “as soon as possible” because that “is what the world is asking for.”

Perhaps someone a little more well-versed in the history of canonizations can tell me whether the five year timeframe (which to me seems absurdly short) sets any kind of record for how soon after his or her death a person was formally beatified?