VARIOUS: The beatification of John Paul II, the last step before sainthood, is expected to attract hundreds of thousands to Rome

Record ID: 475006

  • Title: VARIOUS: The beatification of John Paul II, the last step before sainthood, is expected to attract hundreds of thousands to Rome
  • Date: 30th April 2011
  • Summary: PHOTO OF JOHN PAUL II AT THE BACK OF BUS SIGN READING 'MAY 1, 2011 - BEATIFICATION OF JON PAUL II' ON VATICAN BOOKSHOP WINDOW CALENDARS WITH PHOTOS OF JOHN PAUL II ON STAND ST. PETER'S SQUARE
  • Embargoed: 15th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Vatican City State, Italy
  • City:
  • Country: Italy Vatican City State
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA6TQJ3F0EPPEK215FL57NPQTBB
  • Story Text: The Vatican has begun the countdown to what will be the biggest event in the Italian capital since the death of the charismatic and highly popular Pope John Paul II in 2005, when millions of people came to view his body or attend his funeral.
    Vatican officials expect at least 300,000 people, including tens of thousands from his native Poland, to come to Rome for the three days of events marking the beatification of John Paul, during which he will be declared a "blessed," the last step before sainthood.
    Preparations for the ceremonies as well as the logistics to manage the large crowds are now entering their final stages.
    Inside St Peter's Basilica, the remains of the 14th century pope Innocent XI were recently transferred to a new location to make room for the wooden coffin of John Paul II which will be exhumed from its current place in the underground crypts.
    After the beatification mass in St Peter's Square on May 1, it be will covered with a white drape and placed before the main altar in St Peter's Basilica and remain there for viewing and veneration non-stop until everyone who wants to can see it.
    Vatican spokesperson Federico Lombardi said he foresaw few problems due to the nature of the event and the participants.
    "It is a celebration of faith for a large population and therefore organisational aspects are in place but they are managed with competence and thorough preparations began already when this beatification was announced some months ago. We are moving forward to this event with a calm, certain it will go smoothly. As was the case when millions arrived after the death of John Paul II, the organisation was seen as more simple because it was a spiritual occasion of people gathering for prayer. The pilgrims arriving for this occasion, are the faithful, they are not the type of people creating logistical problems," Lombardi told Reuters.
    Officials say the crowd will be marshalled by police and hundreds of volunteers. Giant television screens will be placed around Rome, 14 of them alone on Via della Conciliazione, the boulevard leading from the Tiber to St Peter's Square.
    However, the lead-up to the event has not gone without trouble.
    The Vatican has had to warn the faithful to beware of fraudsters, particularly on the Internet, who are selling tickets to the beatification ceremony. No tickets will be necessary for any of the ceremonies.
    It has also urged the faithful not to let reports of huge crowds or unscrupulous hoteliers deter them from coming to Rome for the beatification.
    Vatican officials recently said they had stipulated an "ethical pact" with the Rome hoteliers association in which members promised not to jack up prices for the period of the events, when rooms are expected to be scarce.
    There have been numerous media reports of skyrocketing prices, particularly in hotels in Rome's historic centre or in the Vatican area on the other side of the Tiber River.
    President of the the Italian Hotels Confederation "Federalberghi", Giuseppe Roscioli, said he expected the tourism and hotel industries to benefit from the beatification even at usual prices.
    "Certainly, we consider this a huge event, firstly because it will involve maybe 1-1,5 million people, of which only 200,000 are expected to stay in Rome for the night, but all the others will be in Rome as well during the day to go to the Vatican and take part to the beatification," he said.
    Smaller entrepreneurs are also hoping to cash in on the event.
    Souvenir vendor Raimondo said demand for all things John Paul II was on the up.
    "I sell 90 percent of John Paul II memorabilia and 10 percent of Benedict items," Raimondo said.
    And counterfeiters, too, have sought to get their share of the faithful's funds. Italy's Guardia di Finanza customs police recently seized large numbers of fake memorabilia and John Paul artefacts headed for Rome.
    Pope Benedict will preside at the beatification Mass on May 1 and his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will preside at a "Mass of Thanksgiving" in the square on May 2.
    The star of the Rome events will be Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, a 49-year-old French nun who is said to have been miraculously cured of Parkinson's disease months after John Paul's death after she and fellow nuns prayed to him.
    To be beatified, a dead person must be declared by the Church to have interceded with God to perform a miracle that is otherwise inexplicable by medicine.
    For John Paul to become a saint, the Church would have to declare that a second miracle had occurred after beatification.
    The three days of beatification events begin on the evening of April 30 when a massive prayer vigil expected to attract several hundred thousand people will be held in Rome's Circus Maximus oval, where the ancient Romans held horse and chariot races.
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