Faithful attending the beatification of Pope
John Paul in Rome will be able to pray before his coffin, which will be
exhumed for the event, the Vatican said on Friday.
The
Vatican also warned the faithful around the world not to fall prey to
fraudsters, particularly on the Internet, who are selling tickets to the
beatification ceremony on May 1.
"For the beatification Mass of Pope John Paul II, as made clear from the outset, no tickets are required," the Vatican said.
It said people should also steer clear of tour operators promising to procure tickets as part of their packages.
Italian
authorities and Church officials say perhaps more than a million people
may attend the mass at which John Paul, who died in 2005, will be
declared a blessed of the Church and move one step closer to sainthood.
The
ceremony in St Peter's Square, one of several over three days, will
hark back to the funeral of the charismatic pope, which was one of the
biggest media events of the new century.
John Paul's wooden coffin will be exhumed from its current place in the crypts below St Peter's Basilica.
After
the beatification mass in the square it will be placed before the main
altar inside the basilica.
The closed coffin will remain there for
viewing and veneration non-stop until everyone who wants to can see it,
the Vatican said.
The night before
the beatification ceremony, a prayer vigil will be held at Rome's
massive Circus Maximus, the oval shaped field which was a racing track
in ancient times.
A mass of
thanksgiving will be held in St Peter's Square on May 2, the day after
the beatification, and then his remains will be moved to their new
resting place in a side chapel of St Peter's Basilica.
To
be beatified, a dead person must be declared by the Church to have
prompted a miracle.
The Church says a 49-year-old French nun was
miraculously cured of Parkinson's disease months after John Paul's death
after she and fellow nuns prayed to him.
For John Paul to become a saint, the Church must declare that a second miracle occurred after the beatification ceremony.
Crowds at John Paul's funeral on April 8, 2005 chanted "Santo subito!" ("Make him a saint right now!").
During his 27-year pontificate, communism collapsed across eastern Europe, starting in his native Poland.
Tens of thousands of Poles are expected to come to Rome for the beatification.