Beatification: Raw Video

Two minutes of history, y’all: Benedict formally asks that his predecessor be included among the blessed.

It’s official:

CBS News: Cardinal Wuerl weighs in; some shots of pilgrims in the rain. Can anyone spot Elizabeth?

Footage of the vigil. (Yes, the announcer mispronounces “Dziwisz,” though not so badly as the other one):

Update: World News offers its overview. It estimates the number of attendees at 1.5 million. I’m not sure, but I think that’s a record. And yes, the Poles were gettin’ mighty happy with the Lord:

Cheers of “Polska! Polska!” rose from the crowd that was in a carnival-like mood nearing midnight local time, NBC correspondent Anne Thompson reported on Twitter. Some chanted “Giovanni Paulus,” she said.

“John Paul was a wonderful man and it’s a privilege to be here. It’s wonderful to see people from all across the world,” said Anne Honiball, 48, a nursing home administrator from Worthing, England who carried a small Union Jack flag.

A place of honor was reserved for Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, a French nun who suffered from Parkinson’s disease but whose inexplicable cure has been attributed to John Paul’s intercession with God to perform a miracle, thus providing the grounds for his beatification