VATICAN: PILGRIMS BEGIN ARRIVING IN ST.PETER'S SQUARE AS PREPARATIONS START TO CELEBRATE THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF POPE JOHN PAUL'S PONTIFICATE.

Record ID: 648775

  • Title: VATICAN: PILGRIMS BEGIN ARRIVING IN ST.PETER'S SQUARE AS PREPARATIONS START TO CELEBRATE THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF POPE JOHN PAUL'S PONTIFICATE.
  • Date: 15th October 2003
  • Summary: (W3) VATICAN CITY, ROME, ITALY (OCTOBER 16, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. WS: OF VATICAN. 0.03 2. MLV: VATICAN WORKERS PREPARING SEATING FOR THE AFTERNOON ANNIVERSARY MASS. (2 SHOTS) 0.16 3. MLV: GROUPS OF PILGRIMS ENTERING VATICAN. 0.22 4. VARIOUS: VATICAN WORKERS PUTTING BARRICADES UP IN ST.PETERS SQUARE. (3 SHOTS) 0.35 5. MLV: VATICAN WORKERS ARRANGING FLOWERS IN SQUARE. (2 SHOTS) 0.43 6. CU: CROSS WITH MOON. 0.46 7. WS/CU: PILGRIMS SINGING AS THEY ARRIVE. 0.57 8. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) RITA WOSKOSKY FROM MICHEGAN, UNITED STATES SAYING: "It just makes us cry to think about it. It's an opportunity of many lifetimes and God bless each and every person here today." 1.11 9. PAN FROM BUILDING TO PILGRIMS QUEUING TO ENTER VATICAN. 1.17 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (German) FATHER YUSEF MAREK FROM POLAND SAYING: "We are here today all together to celebrate with the Holy Father his anniversary. We are very happy to be here and be able to see him and we wish him all the best and plenty of happiness." 1.27 11. WS: PILGRIMS IN ST. PETERS SQUARE. 1.31 12. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN PILGRIM SOPHIE SOLETZSKY SAYING: "I can't even talk about it it makes me speechless because, think of it, you are here with the Holy Father, he is the most important person in the world to us and we are just delighted to be here today and to be able to be so close to him." 1.45 13. WS: OF VATICAN. 1.49 (W3) VATICAN CITY, ROME, ITALY (OCTOBER 15, 2003) (REUTERS) 14. VARIOUS: CARDINALS LEAVING AFTER MEETING. (4 SHOTS) 2.12 15. VARIOUS: CARDINAL ANDRES RODRIGUEZ MARADIAGA OF HONDURAS SPEAKING TO PEOPLE AND LOOSING HIS HAT WITH A GUST OF WIND AND CHASING AFTER IT. 2.27 16. MV: CARDINAL CLAUDIO HUMMES OF BRAZIL SPEAKING TO A JOURNALIST. 2.31 17. CU: CROSS AND HANDS OF CARDINAL HUMMES. 2.36 18. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) CARDINAL CLAUDIO HUMMES OF BRAZIL SAYING: "I am convinced that he is one of the greatest popes of history. Of course he had 25 years and that means alot of time. But he has an extraordinary charisma, wisdom and I would say today a spiritual and pastoral maturity out of the ordinary. For this reason he is a man who is really leading the church with great clarity and faith and with alot of love." 3.07 19. WS/NIGHT VIEW: VATICAN. 3.13 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: VATICAN CITY, ROME, ITALY
  • Reuters ID: LVABFC13GQLWI7QJY2MGXC0VXVD7
  • Story Text: Thousands of people are arriving in St. Peters
    square to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pope John Pauls
    pontificate.



    Thousands of people have begun arriving in St.

    Peters square to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pope
    John Paul's pontificate.

    Singing and chanting pilgrims arrived in St. Peters
    square on Thursday (October 16) morning to take part in the
    days celebrations for Pope John Paul.

    The Pope will take part in a ceremony this morning to
    sign an apostolic exhortation, a document on bishops
    stemming from a synod that took place several years ago.

    Later in the afternoon he will take part in a mass to
    celebrate his anniversary.

    Thousands of chairs are being set up in St. Peters
    square to try and accommodate over 400,000 people expected
    to attend the mass this afternoon.

    "It just makes us cry to think about it," said a
    tearful Rita Woskosky in St. Peters square.

    "It's an opportunity of many lifetimes and God bless
    each and every person here today," Woskosky said.

    "We are here today all together to celebrate with the
    Holy Father his anniversary. We are very happy to be here
    and be able to see him and we wish him all the best and
    plenty of happiness," said Father Yusef Marek from
    Poland.

    "I can't even talk about it, it makes me speechless
    because, think of it, you are here with the Holy Father,
    close to him," said another tearful American pilgrim
    Sophie Soletzsky.

    Cardinals from around the world will join thousands of
    pilgrims in St Peters square for a mass in honour of the
    83-year-old pope, who has revolutionised his office and
    taken his message far beyond the confines of the tiny
    Vatican state. They have already begun meeting at the
    Vatican for talks scheduled to carry on for the next three
    days. Close friends and advisers say the Pope will carry on
    to the bitter end and have told the faithful gathering in
    the Vatican that the papacy, already the fourth-longest in
    the history of the 2,000-year old Church, is still alive
    and well.

    "I am convinced that he is one of the greatest popes of
    history," said Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Brazil.

    Hummes, 69, is considered a unifying force within th
    ordinary," Hummes said.

    "For this reason he is a man who is really leading the
    church with great clarity and faith and with alot of love,"
    he added.

    Vatican watchers predict the successor to the ailing
    pope may come from Latin America as a reflection of the
    shift of clerical power to the Third World where most
    Catholics live.
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