LIMA — It was more than just an answer to prayer.

A US military mission that cornered and killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was nothing short of a miracle, said Peru's President Alan Garcia, who attributed the divine intervention to newly beatified pontiff John Paul II.

"His first miracle has been to rid the world of this incarnation of evil, this demon of hatred and criminality," the Peruvian leader said, referring to the Al-Qaeda leader.

The late John Paul II showed uncanny timing, with his miracle falling on the very same day as a Rome ceremony beatifying him.