EUROPE/ITALY - To retrace the steps of Pope John Paul who died in Rome a year ago, Italian and Polish military, civilian and disabled athletes will carry The Lolek Flame from his tomb in St Peter’s in Rome on to the Marian shrine in Loreto and home to Krakow in Poland

Tuesday, 28 March 2006

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Rome (Fides Service) - To mark the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II The Lolek Flame will be symbolically lit at the tomb of the Pope in the crypt of St Peter’s Basilica on 28 March and then carried by athletes to Poland to arrive in Krakow on April 2 the date of the Pope’s death. The flame will be carried by military, civilian and disabled Italian and Polish athletes passing through Assisi, Loreto, Częstochowa, Wadowice and finally to a prayer vigil in Krakòw. Lolek was the name used for young Karol Wojtyła by family and friends.
The flame will set off on Wednesday 29 March after a blessing by Pope Benedict XVI during the general audience in St Peter’s Square. On its path it will stop at the Marian shrine of Loreto on Thursday 30 March where there special prayers led by Archbishop Gianni Danzi. Friday 31 March it will travel from Loreto-Częstochowa, then to the Pope’s birthplace Wadowice, and on to his diocese Krakòw 2 April. In Krakòw Cathedral of Saints Wenceslaw and Stanislaw the flame will be consigned symbolically the people of Poland in the person of former personal secretary of the Pope, now his successor as Archbishop of Krakòw Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz. The flame will then be used to light a large brazier of incense and start a prayer vigil to commemorate the Pope’s last moments until the hour of his passing to the House of the Father at 9.37pm on April 2nd 2005 eve of the second Sunday of Easter, named by him Sunday of Divine Mercy.
The flame will be carried on foot, for a total 505 km (225 in Italy and 280 in Poland), by air and by road. At each stop en route a Golden Commemoration Book will be on hand for people to record their own brief personal thoughts and reflections on Pope John Paul II. The initiative has the approval of the Vicariate of Rome diocese and Rev. Slawomir Oder the postulator of the cause for the beatification and canonisation of the late Pope. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 28/3/2006 - Righe 24, parole 351)