Pope John Paul II reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State for 26 years from October 1978 to his death, on 2 April 2005. Since his death, many thousands of people supported the case for beatifying and canonising Pope John Paul II as a saint. His formal beatification ceremony took place on 1 May 2011.

John Paul II's official title was "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of Saint Peter, Head of the College of Bishops, Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City, Servus Servorum Dei, Pope John Paul II". In 2006 the title Patriarch of the West was removed from the papal list of titles by the succeeding pope, Benedict XVI, due to its obsolescence.

On 9 May 2005, Benedict XVI began the beatification process for his predecessor. Normally five years must pass after a person's death before the beatification process can begin. However, in an audience with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Vicar Camillo Ruini, the one responsible for promoting the cause for canonisation of any person who dies within the diocese of Rome, cited "exceptional circumstances" which suggested that the waiting period could be waived.

The "exceptional circumstances" may possibly refer to the people's cries of "Santo Subito!" ("Saint now!" in Italian) during the pontiff's funeral. Therefore, the new pope waived the five year rule "so that the cause of Beatification and Canonisation of the same Servant of God can begin immediately". The decision was announced on 13 May 2005, the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima and the 24th anniversary of the assassination attempt on John Paul II at St. Peter's Square. John Paul II often credited Our Lady of Fátima for preserving him on that day. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, vicar general for the diocese of Rome, officially opened the cause for beatification in the Lateran Basilica on 28 June 2005.

In early 2006, it was reported that the Vatican was investigating a possible miracle associated with John Paul II. Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a French nun confined to her bed by Parkinson's disease, was reported to have woken up free of symptoms on 2 June 2005, "after members of her community prayed for the intercession of Pope John Paul II". A member of the Congregation of Little Sisters of Catholic Motherhood from Puyricard, near Aix-en-Provence, Simon-Pierre returned to work at a maternity hospital run by her order. She met reporters 30 March 2006 in Aix-en-Provence, during a press conference with Archbishop of Aix Claude Feidt, saying "I am cured, but it is up to the church to say whether it was a miracle or not".

However, Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita reported that Simon-Pierre had a relapse of her symptoms in 2010, and suggested that Simon-Pierre did not have Parkinson's but a neurological condition with similar symptoms that could go into remission or be cured, noting that there is no easy way to accurately diagnose the disease short of medical autopsy. The Episcopal Conference of France disputed that the relapse (which would have thrown the purportedly miraculous nature of the cure into doubt) was anything more than a rumour.

On 28 May 2006, Pope Benedict XVI said Mass before an estimated 900,000 people in John Paul II's native Poland. During his homily he encouraged prayers for the early canonisation of John Paul II and stated that he hoped canonisation would happen "in the near future".

In January 2007, it was announced by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz of Kraków, his former secretary, that the key interviewing phase in Italy and Poland of the beatification process was nearing completion. The relics of Pope John Paul II—pieces of white papal cassocks he used to wear—were being freely distributed with prayer cards for the cause to interested parties; this distribution and prayerful use of relics is a typical praiseworthy pious practice after a saintly Catholic's death.