The procedure to beatify the late pope John Paul II has not been ''delayed'', Father Daniel Ols, the spokesman for the cause, said Monday.
Responding to reports in Italian newspapers that the cause had been slowed because a Polish psychiatrist, Wanda Poltawska, had failed to hand over her personal correspondence with the Polish pontiff, Ols said it wasn't possible ''to talk about a delay'' because ''there is no set time frame''.
The process could not be ''accelerated or slowed'', he said.
Ols would not confirm or deny the well-aired hypothesis that the beatification could occur in April 2010, on the fifth anniversary of the pope's death.
''That depends on how things go,'' he said.
''Benedict XVI has asked us (to give the cause) priority, but at the same time that the work is done well and therefore with the greatest accuracy''.
Candidates for beatification - the step which precedes canonization - must overcome a complicated and lengthy vetting process before beatification, the preliminary stage before sainthood.
One certified miracle - reports of which involving John Paul II the Vatican receives weekly - is enough for beatification, but authentication requires thorough certification by a number of experts including medical doctors.
Another miracle is needed for canonisation, or becoming a saint.
In the case of pontiffs the procedure is usually much longer because the Vatican must examine much more material given the mass of responsibility and decisions made by popes.
However, Pope Benedict XVI has put John Paul II's beatification cause on a fast track, waiving a rule requiring a five-year wait before the start of the process.
