Poles want John Paul II to be canonized without going through the usual first step of beatification.

The process of beatification requires proof of a miracle that it has occurred.
With that, a group approaches local bishop.
After Rome's approval an investigation is launched
Findings are sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
Case is presented to the Pope
Blessed may be accorded a feast day
Relics of the candidate may be venerated
Canonization (actual sainthood) requires proof of a second miracle.

Pope Benedict XVI himself had authorized the start of the beatification process of his predecessor John Paul II, the first step to sainthood.

He has waived the usual rules which require a five-year wait before the Church begins to make someone a saint.
John Paul II died on 2 April. Catholics from around the world were making calls for him to be made a saint.

Information will now be gathered on the former pope's life and teachings, including all private writings from the period before he became pope, and checked for orthodoxy to ensure that he expressed no heretical views.
A commission of historians will be appointed to gather all of the documents together, which will then be examined by panels of theologians, and cardinals and bishops.

If a two-thirds majority agree with John Paul II's beatification Pope Benedict XVI will then be called upon to give his own approval.

For the process to be complete the Vatican authorities will have to establish that a miracle has been ascribed to Pope John Paul II. They will have to prove that someone has been miraculously healed... by his intercession, by praying to John Paul II, he or she has recovered from cancer or something of that sort.

In the days following his death Italian media carried a number of reports of alleged miracles attributed to Pope John Paul II, including one claim that an American man suffering from a brain tumor was cured after receiving communion from the late pontiff.

But the alleged miracles occurred during the Pope's lifetime, and the beatification process studies those occurring after the candidate's death.

In normal circumstances five years must pass between the death of the person proposed for beatification and the start of the procedure, to avoid emotion playing a part.
However, John Paul II dispensed with this rule himself when in 2003 he beatified Mother Teresa of Calcutta.

The entire process was completed just six years after her death.