People of all religions and atheists offer testimonies of John Paul’s sanctity

Non-believers and people of other religions are volunteering their testimony to Catholic officials working for the beatification of  Pope John Paul II, whose anniversary occurs today.

His beatification process began last summer and since then messages from people attesting to his saintliness have arrived from around the globe, Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told the Italian press agency ANSA during the week.

"They come from people who say they are agnostics, non-believers, even Muslims, Buddhists or Hindus. They say that they would like their testimony to be officially recognised by the Church," he said.

Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the Polish priest overseeing John Paul's cause, spoke about five of the letters he has received from non-Catholics .

He recalled the case of an Anglican man who said he had been freed of a longstanding "pain" after dreaming of John Paul and an Orthodox Christian woman who said her son was cured of depression thanks to the pontiff's "intercession.�

In comments to Corriere della Sera, Fr Oder also mentioned a Jewish man, a Hindu woman and a Muslim woman who he said "expressed admiration" for John Paul .

Thanks to his successor, Pope Benedict XVI, the Polish pontiff's cause is on a fast track.

Procedures began with a ceremony in Rome on June 28 last year, less than three months after his death on April 2.

Although it is expected to be relatively speedy, it remains unclear how long the complicated process will take.

However, one of the key obstacles appears to have been overcome. Msgr Oder and his team believe they have found the 'miracle' which would take him halfway to being declared a saint.

Oder said earlier this year that detailed investigations were now focusing on the mysterious case of a French nun who was apparently cured of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease after praying for the intercession of John Paul II .

Msgr Oder has said that the process of information gathering - both on the miracle and the 'heroic virtue' of John Paul - still has several months to go.

Meanwhile as part of the anniversary celebrations today, Polish athletes have taken a torch lit from a candle near Pope John Paul II's tomb earlier this week, to his native land.

The athletes, including military men and disabled persons, lit "Lolek's torch," a reference to a nickname of Karol Wojtyla used by relatives and friends, on Tuesday from the candle next to the Polish Pope's tomb beneath the main level of St. Peter's Basilica.

The athletes will go to cities that were symbolic for John Paul II's life, such as Assisi, the shrines of Loreto and Czestochowa, and his birthplace, Wadowice.

Today it arrives in Krakow where it will be received by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the Pope’s longtime secretary, and by thousands of pilgrims gathered in the cathedral. That will occur at the start of a prayer vigil which will culminate at 9:37 p.m., the time when John Paul II died.