When Pope John Paul II is beatified on May 1 before an audience of hundreds of thousands in St. Peter’s Square, the event will mark a new land-speed record for arrival at the final stage before sainthood, beating Mother Teresa’s previous mark by 15 days. Some have objected to the haste, particularly given persistent questions about John Paul’s handling of the sexual-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Yet if the child is father to the man, this is a clear case of the pope being father to the saint.

John Paul notoriously presided over what wags called a “saint-making factory” during his almost 27 years atop the Catholic Church. He produced more beatifications (1,338) and canonizations (482) than all previous popes combined—and since Catholic tradition acknowledges 263 previous popes stretching back nearly 2,000 years, that’s no mean feat.