Poles prepare for beatification of John Paul II

Travelling on a fleet of planes, trains and cars, more than 50,000 Poles are expected to flock to the Vatican for the beatification of "their" saint-to-be, Polish-born pope John Paul II.

The funeral of Karol Wojtyla in April 2005 drew half a million Poles.

While his fast-track beatification -- a key step towards canonisation as a saint -- is a cause for joy among his countrymen, it nonetheless isn\'t generating the same kind of mass pilgrimage to Rome this time around.

"I think there will be between 50,000 and 60,000 Poles in Rome for the beatification ceremonies," Marcin Szklarski, a Polish tour operator specialising in religious pilgrimages, told AFP.

"We were ready to book trips for around 5,000 people in about 100 buses and two planes. Now we have about 3,000 clients so we\'ve reduced the number of buses and kept just one plane," he said.

Szklarski said that alarmist Polish media reports which warned of crushing crowds and sky-high prices for accommodation during the beatification spooked many faithful Poles enough to make them stay home.

"It was partially justified as hotel owners in Rome did indeed hike their prices and therefore succeeded in discouraging many people," he said.

With tour operators offering package deals for the trip at around 250 euros ($365), prices have remained affordable for average Poles.

Cautious consumer spending in light of the economic crisis is not the main cause behind the lower number of pilgrims, according to Janusz Czapinski, a Warsaw University professor of social psychology.

"Today Poles are much more wealthy than they were when Pope John Paul II died. The global crisis didn\'t really affect Poland, we nearly didn\'t notice it," he said.

"The cultural paradigm in Poland is focused on paying last respects to the deceased, but there is really no tradition of the same kind concerning a beatification or canonisation ceremonies," he explained.

He also said that the fewer-than-expected number of Poles attending the Rome ceremonies "can also not be explained by a decline in the authority enjoyed by John Paul II."

"His authority remains intact. John Paul II remains a point of reference for everyone in Poland," he said.

Poland\'s liberal President Bronislaw Komorowski has invited to the ceremony his two democratic predecessors: Communist-turned-social democrat Aleksander Kwasniewski and Solidarity legend Lech Walesa.

Walesa became Poland\'s first democratically elected president in 1991 after negotiating a peaceful end to Communism in 1989.

Several thousand trade unionists will also travel to the Vatican, 800 aboard a special train hired by the Solidarity trade union.

"When the pope made his first trip home to Poland in 1979, we showed just how many we were. The pope stopped us from being afraid of the regime," Ewa Zydorek, a Solidarity official, told AFP.

"In large part, Solidarity owes its existence to the courage in the pontificate of pope John Paul II. It would be difficult to imagine not being at his beatification," she said.

The Polish parliament has also hired a special jet for parliamentarians wishing to participate in the ceremonies.

But deputies from the conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party will take their own road to Rome.

The party, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski -- the surviving twin of late Polish president Lech Kaczynski who is known for his vitriolic criticism of his party\'s political rivals -- is hiring its own train.

"But in Rome, we will all be together in the same sector" of Saint Peter\'s Square, PiS spokesman Adam Hofman told AFP.

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