Vatican announces Pope JPII beatification events

By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican released a three-day schedule of events for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, and warned against people selling counterfeit tickets to the beatification liturgy, which is free and open to all.

Pope Benedict XVI will preside over the beatification Mass at 10 am on 1 May in St Peter’s Square, the Vatican said. Immediately after Mass, the faithful can pray before Pope John Paul’s mortal remains which will be set in front of the main altar in St Peter’s Basilica.
The veneration “will continue until the flow of faithful ends,” it said. Distributing the programme on 18 February, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the deceased Pope’s remains will be in the casket in which he originally was buried in 2005 and will not be visible.
The casket will be reinterred in the Chapel of St Sebastian on the main level of St Peter’s Basilica in a “private” ceremony, which will occur only after the large crowds have stopped coming to pay their respects, Fr Lombardi said. The night before the beatification, a prayer vigil will be held in the grassy open space that was the ancient Circus Maximus in Rome, the Vatican said.
“It will be organised by the Diocese of Rome, which had the venerable servant of God as its Bishop,” the note said.
The morning after the beatification, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican secretary of state, will celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving in St Peter’s Square, the Vatican said. US Archbishop  James M Harvey, prefect of the papal household, which organises the non-liturgical side of papal events, also issued a statement on 18 February emphasising the fact that tickets will not be required to attend the beatification.
The Archbishop’s statement, distributed in six languages, said he had been “informed of the existence of unauthorised offers by some tour operators, especially on the Internet,” claiming that for a fee they could help people get tickets to papal events, particularly the beatification Mass.