French nun credits late Pope John Paul with giving her 'second birth'

London, Jan 18 (ANI): A French Catholic nun has credited late Pope John Paul with curing her of Parkinson's disease, and also giving her a 'second birth'.

Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, 49, who was about to quit working because of her ailment, woke up in June 2005, two months after the Polish-born pope had died, to find that she had been cured of the disease she had been suffering from for four-years.

"When I woke up, I felt I was not the same," the Telegraph quoted her as telling a news conference at the bishop's office in a southern French city.

"There was no more heaviness in my muscles, I could move normally. For me it was a new birth, a second birth," she said.

John Paul's successor, Pope Benedict, approved a decree last Friday declaring her healing a miracle and attributing it to the late pontiff, clearing the way for him to be beatified on May 1.

"Since my healing, many requests for prayers have come in from many countries. To all these ill people, I'd like to say they must not give up. At the end of the tunnel, there is always a little light," Simon-Pierre added. (ANI)