He was a great man and a great Pope...

...but that's not why he's being beatified. John Paul II was great because he was holy, because he put God first, because he was a man of prayer and penance and self-sacrifice. Like many another Catholic, I had not really thought about his "inner life", except to assume that it was this union with God that inspired and drove his pontificate: now we are learning more, and realising that he was a lasting gift to the Church. Read here for more on this...and here for a rather touching message from the H. Father, looking forward to the Beatification...