Rome prepares for influx ahead of canonizations

April 21, 2014 - Less than a week before Pope Francis canonizes two of his predecessors in a ceremony in St. Peter's Square, Romans are bracing for the arrival of as many as 3 million visitors and pilgrims from outside. Nineteen heads of state, 24 prime ministers and 23 government ministers from various countries are due in Rome for the canonization on Sunday, April 27, of Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said. The event will be the climax of an Easter-season tourist boom for what one newspaper dubbed "superstar Rome." Alfano, who chaired a meeting April 17 attended by Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino and the heads of police and intelligence agencies, predicted attendance by at least 800,000 pilgrims, including some 5,000 coming from Poland on five special trains.

"We see a consistent influx of pilgrims and tourists arriving for Easter and the canonizations," Msgr. Liberio Andreatta, head of Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi, the Vatican-related pilgrimage agency, told Catholic News Service. Seventeen maxi-screens are being set up in the historical center of Rome in time for the canonizations. "The surge in religious tourism to Rome and the Vatican this season over the previous will be an imposing 30 percent or so," said Flavio Mollicone, spokesman for ADOC, a union of Italian consumers. He told CNS the estimate is based on reports from hotel, travel and business associations. (Source: CNS)