Pope John Paul II, the beloved pope who died in 2005, is on the road to sainthood: The AP reports that Pope Benedict XVI "set May 1 as the date for John Paul's beatification — a key step toward Catholicism's highest honor and a major morale boost for a church reeling from the clerical sex abuse scandal."
Pope John Paul II To Be Beatified
Cardinal Egan Still In Hospital
Edward Cardinal Egan is still at St. Vincent's Hospital; the NY Times reports that the 77-year-old head of the New York Archdiocese was kept for a third night for observation, after complaining of stomach pains on Saturday. He is expected to be released in a few days, but his involvement in church activities is unclear: Not only did Egan have numerous Easter Week services planned, but next week features ceremonies surrounding the installation of his successor, Archbishop Timothy Dolan. Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said, "It would be very disappointing if he could not be there. But there are no plans to postpone the installation. There is a certain time frame in which a newly appointed archbishop has to be installed." The Times had this factoid: "Cardinal Egan, if he is able, would be the first New York archbishop since the mid-19th century to attend such a torch-passing ceremony. All his predecessors have died in office." Doctors also recommended that Egan, who is retiring, get a pacemaker, but that surgery has been postponed until he regains some more strength.

