A key voice remains a mystery in bid for John Paul sainthood

ROME - It's one of the Roman Catholic Church's closely guarded secrets: the identity of the French nun whose testimony of an inexplicable cure from Parkinson's disease is likely to be accepted as the miracle the Vatican needs to beatify Pope John Paul II.

The nun, who says she was cured of Parkinson's after she and her community of nuns prayed to John Paul, is coming to Rome for ceremonies Monday marking the second anniversary of the pontiff's death and the closure of a church investigation into his life. The probe was ordered after chants of "Santo Subito!" - "Sainthood Now!" - erupted during John Paul's 2005 funeral.

While a few details about the nun's whereabouts are expected to be released during that visit, it remains to be seen whether she will come forward publicly, leaving the faithful with only an anonymous written description of her cure from a disease John Paul lived with for years.

The Vatican's saint-making process requires that John Paul's life and writings be studied for its virtues - an investigation that will end with ceremonies Monday. In addition, the Vatican requires that a miracle attributed to his intercession be confirmed before he can be beatified, the last formal step before possible sainthood.

Pope Benedict XVI announced in May 2005 that he was waiving the traditional five-year waiting period and allowing the beatification process to begin. While many people had hoped John Paul would have been declared a saint by now, there is still no word on when any beatification or canonization might occur.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Polish prelate spearheading John Paul's beatification cause, announced last year that the case of the French nun was the most compelling he had found and would be forwarded to the Vatican for confirmation.

The woman's identity has remained a mystery.

At a news conference yesterday, Oder joked that there would be "thousands of nuns" at the St. John Lateran basilica attending the ceremony - including the sister in question.

"I leave it to your investigations and diligence to figure out which one is the nun," he quipped.

When warned that the lives of many nuns would be disrupted by journalists eager to find her, Oder said he would speak to the woman's superiors. But, he joked, "the problem is this: that knowing the nun, it might ruin her life."

Oder said the woman's bishop would announce her diocese and community Sunday.

Only one document about her experience has been made public: an article she wrote for "Totus Tuus," the official magazine of John Paul's beatification case.

In it, she wrote of being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in June 2001, that she had a strong spiritual affinity for John Paul because he too suffered from the disease, and that her symptoms worsened in the weeks after the pontiff's death April 2, 2005.

"I was wasting away, day by day," she wrote, saying she could no longer write legibly or drive long distances because her muscles would go rigid - a typical Parkinson's symptom.

The nuns of her community prayed for her, and exactly two months after John Paul's death, she awoke in the middle of the night cured, she wrote.

Oder said he was amazed by one piece of evidence to support her story: a paper on which she had written "John Paul II" the night before her recovery. "It was practically illegible," he said.