Pope John Paul II countdown underway

The countdown to Pope John Paul II's May 1 beatification is underway.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver will be marking the event with a special Eucharistic Celebration at Holy Rosary Cathedral Sunday, May 1, which is also Divine Mercy Sunday. The Mass begins at 2:30 p.m. at Holy Rosary Cathedral followed by a reception in Rosary Hall.
 
The Vatican is also hoping its online presence for John Paul II will help create a broad audience for material on the life and teachings of the soon-to-be beatified Pope.

The Holy See has posted a YouTube video of John Paul's famous first papal speech, when the Polish-born pontiff asked the Roman crowd in St. Peter's Square to correct him if he made mistakes in Italian.

The clip is one of several from the early years of John Paul's pontificate posted on the Vatican's YouTube channel and linked to on its new Facebook page ahead of the May 1 beatification.

• The Vatican's Facebook page for the John Paul beatification
• The Vatican's YouTube channel for beatification

Meanwhile the Diocese of Rome has a website dedicated to the beatification and canonization of Pope John Paul II.