POLAND: Millions of Poles lit candles and sang hymns yesterday, writes Daniel McLaughlin, in Krakow
Church bells rang out across Poland last night to mark a year since the death of Pope John Paul, as his homeland urged the Vatican to swiftly make him a saint.
From the Baltic Sea to the southern mountains where the young Karol Wojtyla loved to hike and ski, millions of Poles lit candles and sang hymns for a man who inspired his nation's struggle against communist rule.
Thousands of people descended on Wadowice, Wojtyla's little hometown in the foothills of the Tatra mountains, and amassed in the main square beneath yellow-and-white Vatican banners and the red-and-white flag of Poland.
"We came to pray for his quick beatification and also to pray to him to protect our family," said Wojciech Gladysz (33), who travelled 350km from the capital Warsaw for the anniversary.
In Krakow, 50km north of Wadowice, a throng assembled beneath the main window of the Krakow curia, where Wojtyla addressed believers when he was archbishop of the city and on rare visits home after becoming pope in 1978.
People began gathering there on Saturday night, praying silently and placing scores of glowing, multicoloured candleholders beneath a 50ft picture of John Paul bearing the words: "Thank you JPII."
"We are with him now just as we were when he was alive," said Piotr Grzejszczak (24), a recruitment consultant. "It is a chance for Poles to gather around one person and a set of ideals."
In a park opposite the curia, scores of large photographs captured moments from an extraordinary life: John Paul embracing Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama; meeting survivors of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp; preaching to a sea of his countrymen at Jasna Gora in 1987; hiking in his beloved Polish hills; praying at his Vatican window in 1979 and for the last time last year.
Alongside, Catholic newspaper Tygodnik Powszechny erected a gallery of images from last year's period of national mourning, when about a million Poles travelled to the Vatican for the funeral of their national hero.
Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's private secretary for 26 years and the current archbishop of Krakow, said Mass yesterday before a congregation that included Poland's president Lech Kaczynski and prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.
"It was as if the world stopped for that instant," Cardinal Dziwisz said of the moment when, at 9.37pm on April 2nd last year, the pope finally passed away in his Vatican apartment.
"In that momentous instant, a special unity was created, and at the same time we give thanks to Almighty God for John Paul II's service. He contributed to a fundamental change in the world. That's why history already calls him great," said Cardinal Dziwisz.
He also made an appeal for unity and forgiveness in a country that has been riven by political disputes since a deeply conservative government took power late last year.
It has been accused of planning a witch-hunt against leftists, and Wojciech Jaruzelski, the former leader of the communist government, was charged with various 25-year-old crimes on Friday. "As Easter approaches and in the context of the testament of John Paul II, I remind you of his words, with a big appeal for reconciliation and forgiveness," Cardinal Dziwisz said.
At 9.37pm the nation fell silent, save for the tolling of church bells and Pope Benedict reciting a rosary for his predecessor at the Vatican, which was relayed on big screens across Poland.
In Warsaw, people laid flowers and candles outside churches and offered prayers for the late pope, while tenor Placido Domingo led a memorial concert.
Cardinal Jozef Glemp celebrated open-air Mass on the Warsaw square where John Paul delivered a historic address in 1979 that was widely interpreted as a call for his countrymen to throw off the yoke of communism. Even Poland's relatively few non-Catholics hail John Paul as the inspiration for the Solidarity movement that ultimately toppled Poland's communist government and sent shockwaves through the old Soviet bloc.
"I'm not religious, but John Paul was a really important person for Poland in its fight with communism," said student Hubert Turaj, carrying a candle outside the Krakow Curia. "He united us then, and he unites us now."
For most Poles, nothing but beatification and then sainthood will suffice for John Paul, and they hope for an announcement when Benedict visits Poland next month.
The Polish committee studying his case for beatification finished work on Saturday, leaving a Vatican tribunal to complete the investigation.
For beatification to proceed, a miracle must be attributed to the intercession of the late pope.
Stanislaw Oder, a senior member of the beatification committee, said it had been inundated with reports of miracles, with the strongest case being that of a French nun who claims she suddenly recovered from Parkinson's disease after praying to John Paul.