Pope John Paul II honored on eve of beatification

ROME (AP) — Thousands of young people have flooded an ancient Roman field for an all-night prayer vigil honoring Pope John Paul II on the eve of his beatification, remembering his teachings, travels and his own suffering.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Alberto Pellaschiar, AP

People pray early Sunday in the Church of St. Anese in Agone in Rome. They prepared for the beatification of Pope John Paul II.

By Alberto Pellaschiar, AP

People pray early Sunday in the Church of St. Anese in Agone in Rome. They prepared for the beatification of Pope John Paul II.

Pilgrims waving flags from Poland, Spain, Germany and Brazil on Saturday filled the Circus Maximus, which twinkled with the light of thousands of candles as choirs from John Paul's native Poland, the Philippines and Italy sang. They listened as a French nun who suffered from Parkinson's recounted how she was cured after praying to John Paul, who also battled the same disease.

The Vatican has decreed that Sister Marie Simone-Pierre's inexplicable healing was the miracle needed to beatify John Paul, a process that will reach its culmination Sunday during a Mass in St. Peter's Square celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI.

Benedict put John Paul on the fast-track for possible sainthood when he dispensed with the traditional five-year waiting period and allowed the beatification process to begin weeks after his April 2, 2005 death. Benedict was responding to chants of "Santo Subito" or "Sainthood Immediately" which erupted during John Paul's funeral.

On Saturday night, a "Santo Subito" banner was emblazoned on the side of the Circus Maximus field, and film of John Paul's final moments and his funeral reminded those gathered of the tearful days many had witnessed six years earlier, when St. Peter's overflowed with some 3 million people paying their last respects to the pope.

"He died a saint," Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime secretary, told the crowd.

The vigil was to last all night, a so-called "white night" of prayer to be continued in eight churches kept open in the city center before barricades around St. Peter's Square open to pilgrims at 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) for the 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) beatification Mass.

The beatification is taking place despite a steady drumbeat of criticism about the record-fast speed with which John Paul is being honored, and continued outrage about the clerical abuse scandal: Many of the crimes and cover-ups of priests who raped children occurred on John Paul's 27-year watch.

"I hope he didn't know about the pedophiles," said Sister Maria Luisa Garcia, a Spanish nun attending the vigil. "If he did, it was an error. But no one is perfect, only God."

At the very least, she said, the church had learned as a result of the scandal, "that a person's dignity, especially a child's, is more important than the church's image."

Video montages shown during the vigil showed various scenes of John Paul's lengthy pontificate, his teachings about marriage and justice. One of the first shown was of his final Easter, when he was unable to speak from his studio window, too hobbled by Parkinson's, and only managed a weak blessing of the crowd.

Sister Marie, the French nun, said that at the time she couldn't bear to watch John Paul's condition worsen because she knew his slow decline would be her fate.

"In him, I was reminded of what I was living through," she told the crowd. "But I always admired his humility, his strength, his courage."

Wearing her simple white habit and a black cardigan, she recounted to the crowd her now well-known tale: She said that on June 2, 2005, she told her superior she felt she could no longer continue her work helping new mothers because her Parkinson's symptoms had worsened and she had little strength left.

Her superior, she said, told her that "John Paul II hasn't had the last word" and that she should pray.

She said she woke up the following morning "feeling something had changed in me." She said she went to the chapel and prayed. "I wasn't the same. I knew I had been cured."

The Vatican's complicated saint-making procedures require that a miracle attributed to the candidate's intercession be confirmed before beatification, the first step to possible sainthood.

The crowd on the Circus Maximus had the feel of a World Youth Day, the once-ever-three-year event John Paul launched to energize young Catholics that became a hallmark of his pontificate. Groups of young people danced and sang, many carrying backpacks and sleeping bags in preparation for a night to be spent outdoors.

"It's true that nowadays most of the young don't care about religion, but John Paul showed us love, and love is all we need," said Matea Sarlija, a 21-year-old Croat who spent 10 hours on a bus to arrive in Rome for the vigil.

Rome itself seemed invaded by Poles overjoyed that their native son was being honored. Special trains, planes and buses were shuttling Poles in for the beatification, which is drawing some 16 heads of state and five members of European royal houses.

"I'm here because I think it's my duty, a duty for all the society of my country, to show what a big big man John Paul was," said Stanislaw Roguski, a pilgrim from Warsaw who arrived in Rome by bus on Saturday afternoon.

In Krakow, where John Paul was archbishop, two TV screens at two different sites are to broadcast the beatification ceremony Sunday from Rome. Houses were decorated with Poland's white-and-red flags and the Vatican's white-and-yellow colors.

The vigil featured televised hookups from five Marian shrines in Krakow, Mexico, Tanzania, Portugal and Lebanon, where the faithful were also celebrating.

Thousands of Mexicans held a prayer vigil in Mexico City's Virgen of Guadalupe Basilica on Saturday while two large screens inside the church projected the celebrations in Rome.

"He was a person who elevated the faith," said Jorge Lopez Baracenas, a 70-year-old who was attending the vigil in Mexico City's Virgen of Guadalupe Basilica.

In the Dominican Republic, members of the Santo Domingo youth pastoral prepared for a midnight Saturday vigil to remember John Paul II and watch the beatification ceremony on giant television screen.

Some 3,000 people gathered at the God's Mercy Sanctuary in the Lagiewniki district of Krakow, watching the Roman ceremony on large TV screens and at one point holding a joint rosary prayer.

Vatican officials have insisted that John Paul deserves beatification despite the fallout from the abuse scandal, saying the saint-making process isn't a judgment of how he administered the church but rather whether he lived a life of Christian virtue.

But victims' groups such as the U.S. Survivors Network for Those Abused by Priests have said the speedy beatification was just "rubbing more salt in these wounds" of victims.

And Le Soir, the main French-speaking newspaper in Belgium, charged Saturday that the pace of the beatification contrasted sharply with the "lengthy wait" victims of abuse had to endure for justice. Belgium's Catholic Church has been rocked by new reports of hundreds of victims as well as the resignation of its longest-serving bishop who admitted to abusing two nephews.

"This is the (beatification) of a man obsessed by the rights of unborn children (and the rejection of condoms) but who allowed those same children to be without protection by not addressing ? the question of pedophile priests during his reign," the editorial said.

Cardinal Jose Saraiva Martins, retired head of the Vatican's saint-making office, said Saturday the investigation into John Paul's life had taken the clerical abuse scandal into account but that John Paul can't be held responsible for something he didn't know about.

"If I'm not informed of something, what guilt do I have?" he asked rhetorically. "This didn't touch at all the holiness of John Paul."

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Poles travel to Rome for John Paul beatification

ABOARD THE POPIELUSZKO TRAIN (AP) — They slept in the aisles and celebrated Mass in the restaurant car.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Bela Szandelszky, AP

Polish pilgrims pray on a special train leaves for Rome, in Warsaw, Poland, late evening Friday.

By Bela Szandelszky, AP

Polish pilgrims pray on a special train leaves for Rome, in Warsaw, Poland, late evening Friday.

Eight hundred Poles boarded a special train Friday night for a 26-hour trip across Europe, bound for Rome and the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.They were joining tens of thousands of Poles who are massing in Rome for Sunday's beatification, a major celebration for a nation overjoyed at seeing the Polish-born pontiff moved closer to sainthood.

By Saturday morning, the pilgrim train was cruising through the Austrian countryside. And as picturesque farmhouses, creeks and mountains sped past, priests celebrated Mass in the restaurant car, setting up a makeshift altar on a dining table bedecked with a white cloth and a four-inch (10-centimeter) crucifix. The faithful followed along in the aisles, some kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, and priests pushed their way down packed, narrow aisles to give them Communion.

Mieczyslawa Rzepecka, 55, who was making the pilgrimage with her husband and son, said she planned to consume only dry crackers and water during the journey, a partial fast meant as a gesture of piety. The long train ride doesn't bother her ? she said she knows that most Poles are making the trip by bus, which is longer and much more cramped.

"If you love John Paul, this is not hard," she said.

The "Popieluszko" train the pilgrims were riding on is named for Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest recently beatified for having been murdered by the communist regime in 1984 ? the system that John Paul is credited with helping to topple.

The train is due to pull into Rome a few hours before Sunday's beatification.

For those who arrived earlier, an all-night prayer vigil begins Saturday night in Rome's Circus Maximus, featuring testimony from the French nun whose inexplicable cure from Parkinson's disease was the miracle needed to beatify John Paul.

The journey for the Poles aboard the Popieluszko began with a Mass at Popieluszko's former church in Warsaw on Friday evening. The pilgrims then made their way together to a nearby train station, pulling suitcases or carrying backpacks and bottles of water.

Some on board said they were going to Rome to give thanks to John Paul for prayers he had answered already, or to Pope Benedict XVI for the speedy beatification of their beloved countryman. Others said they were seeking cures for health problems, while some said they wanted to recapture the powerful sense of community they experienced during John Paul's lifetime at youth gatherings he led.

Sylwia Kurowska, 31, said she is expecting a spiritual experience similar to John Paul's funeral at a packed St. Peter's Square in 2005, when the wind turned the pages of a book of Gospels on his coffin.

"That felt like a scene from the Bible, with God giving a sign that is there," Kurowska said. "I think something will happen during the beatification that will create that same kind of atmosphere."

Malgorzata Drutkowska, 60, began to cry as she gave her reason for the trip: praying to John Paul for the health of loved ones. In particular, she will pray for a 33-year-old daughter recently diagnosed with diabetes, a husband who has suffered two heart attacks, an elderly friend with Parkinson's disease, and spinal problems of her own.

"I am praying for all this," she said, holding her hand to her heart as wiped away tears.

Before boarding, some young people joined in religious songs with a long-bearded monk. Loved ones kissed each other goodbye. A man on the platform lifted Polish-Italian phrase books to the train windows, hoping for buyers.

"I don't have room in my bags for that," one woman told him.

Several priests walked about in yellow baseball caps emblazoned with an image of John Paul, prompting Rzepecka to ask several people around her: "Are they giving out caps?"

Soon enough, organizers did indeed hand out the yellow caps and buttons of Christ and John Paul. Prayers were said over the train's intercom system. Organizers also passed out maps of Rome and a printout with some common Polish expressions translated into Italian.

In any case, the pilgrims from the Popieluszko train ? like so many other Poles on limited budgets ? will have little time to use any Italian in Rome. They are to arrive at around midnight Saturday, and will then spend several hours praying and waiting at St. Peter's Square for the morning beatification. After that, there will only be a few hours left before they have to board the train for the return trip home.

A guide walked through the aisles as people were getting settled in for the night Friday, giving them various bits of advice. To one group in a compartment that sleeps six, he warned against leaving any valuables aboard the train.

When the same group organized a similar trip to Rome for John Paul's funeral, "everything was stolen, even jars of pickles," he said.

Most passengers were not lucky enough to get a space in a sleeping car, and as the train made its way south in the dark, pilgrims slept sitting up, or they stretched out on the floors of corridors, their first of three rough nights.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Poles travel to Rome for John Paul beatification

ABOARD THE POPIELUSZKO TRAIN (AP) — They slept in the aisles and celebrated Mass in the restaurant car.

var data = blocks.columnist;if (data != undefined){document.getElementById('columnistmug').innerHTML=data;} By Bela Szandelszky, AP

Polish pilgrims pray on a special train leaves for Rome, in Warsaw, Poland, late evening Friday.

By Bela Szandelszky, AP

Polish pilgrims pray on a special train leaves for Rome, in Warsaw, Poland, late evening Friday.

Eight hundred Poles boarded a special train Friday night for a 26-hour trip across Europe, bound for Rome and the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II.They were joining tens of thousands of Poles who are massing in Rome for Sunday's beatification, a major celebration for a nation overjoyed at seeing the Polish-born pontiff moved closer to sainthood.

By Saturday morning, the pilgrim train was cruising through the Austrian countryside. And as picturesque farmhouses, creeks and mountains sped past, priests celebrated Mass in the restaurant car, setting up a makeshift altar on a dining table bedecked with a white cloth and a four-inch (10-centimeter) crucifix. The faithful followed along in the aisles, some kneeling, hands clasped in prayer, and priests pushed their way down packed, narrow aisles to give them Communion.

Mieczyslawa Rzepecka, 55, who was making the pilgrimage with her husband and son, said she planned to consume only dry crackers and water during the journey, a partial fast meant as a gesture of piety. The long train ride doesn't bother her ? she said she knows that most Poles are making the trip by bus, which is longer and much more cramped.

"If you love John Paul, this is not hard," she said.

The "Popieluszko" train the pilgrims were riding on is named for Jerzy Popieluszko, a Polish priest recently beatified for having been murdered by the communist regime in 1984 ? the system that John Paul is credited with helping to topple.

The train is due to pull into Rome a few hours before Sunday's beatification.

For those who arrived earlier, an all-night prayer vigil begins Saturday night in Rome's Circus Maximus, featuring testimony from the French nun whose inexplicable cure from Parkinson's disease was the miracle needed to beatify John Paul.

The journey for the Poles aboard the Popieluszko began with a Mass at Popieluszko's former church in Warsaw on Friday evening. The pilgrims then made their way together to a nearby train station, pulling suitcases or carrying backpacks and bottles of water.

Some on board said they were going to Rome to give thanks to John Paul for prayers he had answered already, or to Pope Benedict XVI for the speedy beatification of their beloved countryman. Others said they were seeking cures for health problems, while some said they wanted to recapture the powerful sense of community they experienced during John Paul's lifetime at youth gatherings he led.

Sylwia Kurowska, 31, said she is expecting a spiritual experience similar to John Paul's funeral at a packed St. Peter's Square in 2005, when the wind turned the pages of a book of Gospels on his coffin.

"That felt like a scene from the Bible, with God giving a sign that is there," Kurowska said. "I think something will happen during the beatification that will create that same kind of atmosphere."

Malgorzata Drutkowska, 60, began to cry as she gave her reason for the trip: praying to John Paul for the health of loved ones. In particular, she will pray for a 33-year-old daughter recently diagnosed with diabetes, a husband who has suffered two heart attacks, an elderly friend with Parkinson's disease, and spinal problems of her own.

"I am praying for all this," she said, holding her hand to her heart as wiped away tears.

Before boarding, some young people joined in religious songs with a long-bearded monk. Loved ones kissed each other goodbye. A man on the platform lifted Polish-Italian phrase books to the train windows, hoping for buyers.

"I don't have room in my bags for that," one woman told him.

Several priests walked about in yellow baseball caps emblazoned with an image of John Paul, prompting Rzepecka to ask several people around her: "Are they giving out caps?"

Soon enough, organizers did indeed hand out the yellow caps and buttons of Christ and John Paul. Prayers were said over the train's intercom system. Organizers also passed out maps of Rome and a printout with some common Polish expressions translated into Italian.

In any case, the pilgrims from the Popieluszko train ? like so many other Poles on limited budgets ? will have little time to use any Italian in Rome. They are to arrive at around midnight Saturday, and will then spend several hours praying and waiting at St. Peter's Square for the morning beatification. After that, there will only be a few hours left before they have to board the train for the return trip home.

A guide walked through the aisles as people were getting settled in for the night Friday, giving them various bits of advice. To one group in a compartment that sleeps six, he warned against leaving any valuables aboard the train.

When the same group organized a similar trip to Rome for John Paul's funeral, "everything was stolen, even jars of pickles," he said.

Most passengers were not lucky enough to get a space in a sleeping car, and as the train made its way south in the dark, pilgrims slept sitting up, or they stretched out on the floors of corridors, their first of three rough nights.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

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Rome set for John Paul II beatification

Workers set up a giant photo of John Paul II at Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City on Wednesday, April 27.The late Pope John Paul II will be beatified in a ceremony at St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday Over one million people are expected to travel to Rome and Vatican City for the event John Paul II will be just one step from sainthood following his beatification on Sunday

(CNN) -- More than one million people are expected in Rome this weekend for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, the biggest event in Vatican City since his death six years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of Catholic faithful will gather in St. Peter's Square to witness the ceremony, the penultimate step towards John Paul II's sainthood.

Beatification means the candidate can be referred to as "blessed," and that one miracle has been confirmed in his or her name, according to CNN's John L. Allen, Jr. Another miracle is required for canonization, the formal act of declaring someone a saint.

While normally a person cannot become a saint until 50 years after their death, John Paul II was put on a fast track to sainthood by the current Pope Benedict XVI, who waived the normal five-year waiting period to begin the beatification process.

While Rome is used to hosting big crowds, there is something special about this weekend's celebration to commemorate the late pope's road to sainthood, according to the city's mayor.

"Pope Wojtyla was a friend not just of the faithful but of all of Rome," says Mayor Gianni Alemanno, referring to the pope by his birth name. "We remember him in our neighborhoods and our churches, unforgettable memories that we want to celebrate together."

An extra 120 charter planes will bring thousands of faithful from Poland and Spain to Rome for the ceremony.

On top of those extra charter planes, Alitalia and other airlines are laying on 30 more "special flights" to bring pilgrims to Rome. The city's Fiumcino airport has even set up monitors in the departure lounges displaying documentaries of the late pope's life.

While the image of John Paul is ubiquitous throughout Rome on a normal day -- his face finding its way onto rosaries, candles, T-shirts and trinkets -- pictures of the late pope are unavoidable ahead of Sunday's beatification.

Rome's city government has plastered 30,000 posters of John Paul II around the city on everything from coffee shop windows to taxicabs and buses. Streetlamps are draped with banners, and every major Italian newspaper and magazine has issued special editions.

Epoca magazine's retrospective issue even refers to John Paul II as a saint despite the fact he will remain one step away after Sunday.

Documentaries about John Paul II's life have dominated Italian airwaves in recent days, and the beatification will be broadcast in St. Peter's Square and in Italian city squares from Brescia to Bari.

In a rare move, the Vatican and the Italian government are both issuing stamps to commemorate the occasion.

In addition to the transferring of John Paul II's casket before the tomb of St. Peter and Saturday night's vigil at Circus Maximus, the city of Rome has also organized a series of events, including a Monday concert and the unveiling of a bronze statue of John Paul II in mid-May.

The city will also provide 3,000 police and traffic officers, thousands of volunteers and additional buses and metro services.

A no-fly zone will be in effect over St. Peter's Square, and field hospitals and medical assistance points will be set up.

The cost of the beatification ceremony to the city of Rome alone will be 3.5 million euros, according to government officials.

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