The Vatican marks the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's death tomorrow amid doubts over the miracle needed for him to be made a saint and questions about his record combating paedophile priests.
The inexplicable cure of a young French nun from Parkinson's disease had initially seemed like the perfect case for a miracle as the Vatican fast-tracked John Paul's beatification.
The nun, who suffered from the same disease that ravaged John Paul for years, had prayed to him for relief and one morning two months after John Paul died, woke up completely, inexplicably cured.
But from the beginning, Marie Simon-Pierre's mysterious cure seemed difficult for the Vatican to certify as a miracle. According to its own rules, the medically inexplicable cure must be instantaneous, complete and lasting.
While the nun's cure was by all indications instantaneous and complete, some would argue the world will have to wait her entire lifetime to determine whether it was lasting, in case the symptoms return.
New questions were raised in recent weeks, after a Polish newspaper reported that doubts had been cast about whether Simon-Pierre had Parkinson's to begin with.
Rzeczpospolita, one of Poland's most respected and widely read newspapers, suggested that Simon-Pierre instead may have suffered from another neurological disease which has similar symptoms as Parkinson's but which can be cured.
As tomorrow is Good Friday, Pope Benedict has already celebrated a memorial Mass at St Peter's Basilica. Pope John Paul made his final public appearance on March 30, 2005, when he was recovering from a tracheotomy to relieve breathing problems. He blessed pilgrims in St Peter's Square and tried in vain to speak to them. After a few minutes, aides wheeled him from view and drew the curtains of his apartment window for the last time.
Those who witnessed the scene sensed it was a farewell, and an incredibly poignant one. The Vatican later described it as "the last public "station" of his painful Via Crucis".
The next day, the Pope suffered septic shock and heart failure. He was treated immediately with antibiotics and respiratory equipment, but his condition deteriorated. Vatican officials later said it was the Pope himself who decided to be treated at the Vatican instead of being taken back to hospital.
An Italian cardinal who visited the dying Pope described the scene in the papal bedroom. Assisted by several doctors and his personal staff, the pontiff lay serenely on a bed in the middle of his room, comforted by cushions, occasionally opening his eyes in greeting to the handful of visitors allowed inside.
Outside, on St Peter's Square, the first groups of faithful - many of them young people - assembled to pray and sing songs beneath the Pope's window. Some 48 hours later, the vigil had grown to include some 100,000 people.
On the afternoon of April 2, according to his aides, the Pope murmured in Polish, "Let me go to the house of the Father." They were his last words. Six hours later, at 9:37 p.m., Pope John Paul died.
In Pope John Paul's native Poland, the bells tolled and air-raid sirens were sounded. On Polish TV, commentators were in tears as they announced the Pope's death.
What happened in the hours and days to follow surprised Vatican officials. For one thing, people did not leave St Peter's Square after the death announcement - they stayed and prayed well into the early morning. And by the next day, it was clear that many, many people wanted to pay their respects to Pope John Paul in person.
Eventually, more than two million mourners came to view the Pope's body as it lay in St Peter's Basilica.
They came from every continent. Some waited in line as long as 12 hours, and many took photos on their cell phones when they approached the papal bier. That broke with tradition, but it seemed fitting.