Pilgrims from Pope's home town prepare for trip to Rome
(5 Apr 2005) Wadowice - 4 April, 2005 1. Church service, pilgrims Andrej and Teresa Len singing while kneeling 2. Close up Andrej Len singing 3. Andrej and Teresa Len singing 4. Cutaway of Andrej's folded hands 5. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Andrej Len, Pilgrim: "He implemented faith in us, love between people, between religions, he tried to prevent antagonism." 6. Various of Andrej and Teresa looking at album with photographs of the pope 7. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Teresa Len, Pilgrim: "He loved everyone equally, I couldn't say that he was less giving to others. But his heart was with Poland because we understand Polish, he understands Polish and he thought in Polish." 8. STILL photo of pope 9. Photograph from the album 10. Teresa hanging up clothes 11. Picture of pope on wall 12. Andrej with rosary beads, folds them up and kisses them 13. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Andrej Len, Pilgrim: "I feel the need to be there, say an ode to him and my goodbye. Although I will be far away from him, on a street perhaps, I will be next to him in my thoughts." 14. Photo of pope Wadowice - 5 April, 2005 15. Bus in Wadowice Square 16. Bus reversing 17. Luggage being wheeled down footpath 18. Woman kissing children goodbye 19. People waiting for buses 20. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Andrej Len, Pilgrim: "We are going there in order to say our goodbyes, but we know he will always be with us." 21. People putting luggage onto bus 22. Andrej kissing Teresa goodbye 23. People getting onto the bus 24. Bus leaving, pilgrims waving out window 25. Bus driving away STORYLINE: Almost two hundred pilgrims left Pope John Paul II's hometown of Wadowice in southern Poland for the Vatican City on Tuesday. The pilgrims were travelling to Rome to pay their final respects to the pope, who died on Saturday of septic shock and cardio-circulatory collapse. Despite speculation that the pope might have left orders to be buried in his native Poland, the Vatican announced on Monday that John Paul's funeral will be held on Friday morning, and his remains will be interred in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica where popes throughout the ages have been laid to rest. One pilgrim Andrej Len said he felt the need to go to "say an ode to him and my goodbye." Len owns a photographic studio in Wadowice. For the last 30 years he has taken photos of the pope. Andrej and his wife Teresa are devout Catholics. Teresa travelled to Rome three weeks ago to pray for the pope's health outside the Gemelli hospital where he was recovering from an operation. An official from Wadowice said on Monday that many of the pilgrims will be given free lodging in private homes in Carpineto Romano, a town near Rome that is a sister city to Wadowice. Pope John Paul II is revered in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Poland as a national as well as spiritual leader with some crediting him with helping to bring down communism in Europe. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
