VATICAN CITY: Pilgrims from all over the world spend the night next to the Vatican a few hours from the beatification of John Paul II

Record ID: 741679

  • Title: VATICAN CITY: Pilgrims from all over the world spend the night next to the Vatican a few hours from the beatification of John Paul II
  • Date: 1st May 2011
  • Summary: WOMEN SITTING OUTSIDE ST PETER'S SQUARE MORE PEOPLE IN SLEEPING BAGS OUTSIDE ST PETER'S SQUARE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN PILGRIM, FRANCESCO, SAYING "I loved this pope too much, it was really hard when he died, he was too good. He was a strong person, he knew how to defend himself, he was amazing." ST PETER'S SQUARE/PILGRIM HOLDING POLISH FLAG TRAIN ARRIVING AT ST PETER'S STATION POLISH PILGRIMS GETTING OFF TRAIN (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) POLISH PILGRIM DANUTA, SAYING "We are going to meet our pope. I am Polish, look (SHOWS A POLISH FLAG), and I have no words to say how I feel, it's too much for my heart." MORE POLISH PILGRIMS GETTING OFF TRAIN (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) POLISH PILGRIM MARIA, SAYING "We have such a big emotion inside, we are so happy." POLISH PILGRIMS LEAVING STATION POLISH PILGRIMS WALKING OUTSIDE STATION SOUNDBITE (Italian) POLISH PILGRIM AGNEWSKA, SAYING "It is a great emotion, he represents everything, he represents all the world, our pope." POLISH PILGRIMS WALKING/ST PETER'S CUPOLA IN THE BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 16th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Vatican City State
  • Country: Vatican City State
  • Topics: Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVABC3XI8YICGOGJF5K2SEJM72MP
  • Story Text: Pilgrims from all over the world, many from the pope's native Poland, have flocked to Rome on Saturday (April 30) to witness the beatification mass of Pope John Paul II and take part in the biggest event in the Italian capital since the late pope's funeral in 2005.
    Groups carrying national flags and singing songs have gathered just outside St Peter's square, where the ceremony will take place, to spend the night there and to have a chance to witness the ceremony on Sunday (May 1st) morning.
    "We love this pope so much, we are Mexicans and he once said that he was Mexican too, like us," said Francisca, a Mexican woman living in Italy.
    "I loved this pope too much, it was really hard when he died, he was too good. He was a strong person, he knew how to defend himself," said Francesco, an Italian pilgrim living in Germany who arrived in Rome for the beatification.
    Tens of people were staying on the street facing St Peter's, with sleeping bags. Access to the square will be allowed in the early morning of Sunday.
    A train carrying hundreds of Polish pilgrims also arrived on Saturday night at Rome's train station next to St Peter's.
    "We are going to meet our pope," said Danuta, a Polish pilgrim who had just arrived with the train, holding a Polish flag. "I have no words to say how I feel, it's too much for my heart."
    "It is a great emotion, he represents everything, he represents all the world, our pope," said Agnewska, as the group of Polish pilgrims left the station, only a few hundreds metres from St Peter's square.
    Up to 200,000 people attended a prayer vigil on Saturday evening in the Circus Maximus, the huge oval once used by the ancient Romans for chariot races. Some Rome churches threw their doors open all night to give pilgrims a space to pray.
    John Paul's successor Pope Benedict XVI will pronounce a Latin formula on Sunday (May 1) declaring one of the most popular popes in history a "blessed" of the Church.
    A place of honour is reserved for Sister Marie Simon-Pierre Normand, a French nun who suffered from Parkinson's disease but whose inexplicable cure has been attributed to John Paul's intercession with God to perform a miracle, thus permitting the beatification to go ahead.
    The Vatican will have to attribute another miracle to John Paul's intercession after the beatification in order for him to be declared a saint.
    Some 90 official delegations from around the world, including members of five European royal families and 16 heads of state, will attend the beatification.
    They include Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, who has been widely criticised for human rights abuses in his country. Mugabe is banned from travelling to the European Union, but the Vatican -- a sovereign state -- is not a member of the bloc.
    Pope John Paul's coffin was exhumed on Friday from the crypts below St Peter's Basilica and will be placed in front of the main altar. After Sunday's beatification mass, it will remain there and the basilica will remain open until all visitors who want to view it have done so.
    It will then be moved to a new crypt under an altar in a side chapel near Michelangelo's statue of the Pieta. The marble slab that covered his first burial place will be sent to Poland.
    John Paul's beatification has set a new speed record for modern times, taking place six years and one month after his death on April 2, 2005.
    While the overwhelming number of Catholics welcome it, a minority are opposed, with some saying it happened too fast.
    Liberals in the church say John Paul was too harsh with theological dissenters who wanted to help the poor, particularly in Latin America. Some say John Paul should be held ultimately responsible for the sexual abuse scandals because they occurred or came to light when he was in charge.
    Ultra-Conservatives say he was too open towards other religions and that he allowed the liturgy to be "infected" by local cultures, such as African dancing, on his trips abroad.
    The pope is being beatified on the day the Church celebrates the movable Feast of Divine Mercy, which this year happens to fall on May 1, the most important feast in the communist world.
    The coincidence is ironic given that many believe the pope played a key role in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.
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