Pope John Paul II has been beatified Sunday by successor Benedict XVI at a solemn mass in front of many hundred thousand pilgrims gathered on the St. Peter Square in the Vatican.

Many foreign dignitaries from across the world are also attending the ceremony. Bulgaria is represented by the Speaker of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva.

Festivities have started Saturday, with joint prayers and recollections about the life of John Paul II, one of the most charismatic and loved popes in history. As usual, many young catholics have gathered for the celebration.

The process for declaring John Paul II was prompted and speeded up not only by his immense popularity which provoked him being given the rare informal title "the Great", but also by a miracle he apparently worked by curing a French nun from Parkinson's disease.