Poles prepare for Papal homecoming

Polies from across the country are converging on Blonia for a papal mass

ROME, Italy -- Ailing Pope John Paul II is preparing for what many say may be his last visit to his home country of Poland.

While Poles will give a joyous welcome to the pope on Friday in his capacity as their spiritual leader and greatest living countryman, the outpouring of adoration will be tinged by a sense of sadness.

The pope, 82, who faces a daily battle against the effects of Parkinson's disease and arthritis, is making his ninth papal visit to Poland. Ill health forced the Vatican to cancel a visit three years ago.

It is estimated that up to 4.5 million faithful -- more than 10 percent of the population -- could turn out for the four-day trip.

A record 2.5 million alone are expected at an open-air mass on Krakow's Blonia common on Sunday.

The logistics of the visit are immense -- 140 doctors on standby to treat the pope, 8,500 police on crowd duty and 600 fire-fighters and 350 rescue workers at the ready.

One hundred cubic metres (3,531 cubic feet) of wood and 52 tonnes of steel were needed to build the altar for the Blonia mass.

Already thousands of pilgrims are making the annual trek to celebrate the Feast of the Assumption on Thursday at the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Czestochowa before they converge on Krakow at the weekend.

Among them are Elzbieta Kaminska, 30, from eastern Poland, who told Reuters: "He's a good person you can trust. Poland lacks people like him. He's the only figure we can look up to."

"For me the pope is a moral authority. The rest is history," said 18-year-old high-school student Sylwester Briska.

Agata Meilute, a 20-year-old drama student, said: "It doesn't matter that he is old -- he's young in spirit."

Jacek Kucharczyk, a sociologist at the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw think-tank, said: "There is an aspect of identification with the pope being Polish and recognised all over the world.

"There is a subconscious need for external recognition -- especially at a time when the public mood is so low."

On Saturday the pontiff will consecrate a shrine to Sister Faustina in the Krakow suburb of Lagiewniki.

Her mystical revelations written between the wars were banned by the Vatican only for her to be rehabilitated, beatified and then canonised in 2000 by Pope John Paul.

"The sanctuary in Lagiewniki is like an ark on the waters of today's civilisation which shows that there is hope and mercy in today's often corrupt world," said Father Stanislaw Mieszczak, who has worked on the liturgy of the Papal visit.

"The Holy Father will want to show people that the Church and God should not be feared but offer them forgiveness and always welcome them with open arms. That anyone can always return to the church and seek God's mercy."

An opinion poll, by the Centre for Public Opinion Research (CBOS), found that 86 percent of Poles see the papal visit as an important event in their lives.

However, another survey by the TNS OBOP group found that 56 percent of Poles felt that the role of the Church in politics was too great. And 45 percent felt that the state should not follow the church's social teachings.

"The need to have a pope as a father figure does not diminish," said the Institute of Public Affairs' Kucharczyk. "But that doesn't mean that the Poles share all his ideas."