Vatican City ? The new pope placed John Paul II on an unprecedented fast track for sainthood Friday and named San Francisco’s archbishop to be the church’s guardian of doctrine — the highest Vatican office ever held by an American.

Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to waive the five-year waiting period for beatification procedures for John Paul came just six weeks after the pope’s death.

“And now I have a very joyous piece of news for you,” Benedict told a gathering of Roman priests at the Basilica of St. John Lateran before reading a letter in Latin announcing the move.

The announcement came on the 24th anniversary of the 1981 assassination attempt on John Paul in St. Peter’s Square by a Turkish gunman. The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said the timing was an “eloquent” testimony to the late pope’s holiness.

The only other time the waiting period was waived was for Mother Teresa — a step taken by John Paul himself a year after her death in 1997. She was beatified in 2003.

Friday’s announcement opens the way for a lengthy investigation into John Paul’s life. The Vatican must confirm one miracle attributed to his intercession for beatification and a second for sainthood — a process that will take years.

In his other announcement Friday, Benedict tapped his old friend Archbishop William Levada to be prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, filling the job Benedict held for nearly 24 years.

The position, one of the most powerful at the Vatican, is responsible for ensuring the faithful follow church doctrine and for punishing those who don’t. Levada, 68, was expected to maintain the Vatican’s uncompromising opposition to abortion, euthanasia, ordaining women, homosexuality and lifting the celibacy requirement for priests.

In choosing Levada, Benedict selected a champion of church doctrine who has spoken out against same-sex marriages while leading the church in a city with a vibrant gay and lesbian community.

San Francisco archbishop since 1995, Levada also has dealt with the clergy sex abuse scandal that has convulsed the American church.