(14 Feb 08 - RV ) Pope Benedict XVI is dispensing with the five-year waiting period established by Canon Law to open the cause of beatification of Sister Lucia, one of the three Fatima visionaries.

The news was announced Wednesday evening in the cathedral of Coimbra, Portugal, by Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes, on the third anniversary of the Carmelite's death.

A communiqué of the Vatican press office states: "Benedict XVI, taking into account the petition presented by Bishop Albino Mamede Cleto of Coimbra, and supported by numerous bishops and faithful from all parts of the world, has revoked the five-year waiting period established by the canonical norms (cf. Article 9 of the 'Normae Servandae'), and he has allowed for the diocesan phase of the Carmelite's cause of beatification to begin three years after her death."

The Holy Father dispensed with the established waiting period once before for the cause of Pope John Paul II.

Meanwhile the Vatican has also announced that “Sanctorum Mater," concerning norms regulating the opening of saints' causes, will be presented Monday,.

The document, from the Congregation for Saints' Causes, will be presented by the dicastery's prefect, Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, accompanied by the secretary and under-secretary.

A supplement, "Index Ac Status Causarum," will be presented at the same time.

The new document has "certain instructions on how to proceed in the examination of the admissibility of new cases, and about what to do to concretely begin and carry forward the diocesan phase of the process," Cardinal Saraiva Martins told L'Osservatore Romano last month. "It involves very important innovations, capable of effectively highlighting the theology of the local Church as it was energetically reaffirmed by the Second Vatican Council."