Website Helps Speed Sainthood

The Vatican has invited followers of John Paul II  to offer prayers and donations to boost the process of making him a saint . A website set up for that purpose gives visitors the opportunity to see the late pontiff''s tomb via the 24-hour webcam and request pieces of the popular pope's cassock in return for donations made by credit card. Created in 2005 and redesigned recently, it now receives 1,200 donations a day, Bloomberg reports.

"The aim is to give everyone a chance to take part in the process," says the site's webmaster. "It's a way of reaching out."  John Paul II is benefiting from a streamlined canonization process which he established, having sainted 500 souls, more than the combined total for all popes in the last 400 years. (More Vatican stories.)