30 hour journey for Polish pilgrims
Paulina Slusarska always wanted to go to the Vatican to see Poland’s favourite son, Pope John Paul, but kept putting it off.
So when the pope died, she decided to brave the long, cramped ride to Rome in a convoy of buses with about 400 other people to pay her last respects.
“He changed my life,” the 26-year-old university student said at 4.30am today after the eight buses chartered by St Anne’s Church in Warsaw pulled into a rest stop near the town of Stockerau, Austria, six hours into the 30 hour trip.
“I had this feeling that I should make the effort for the pope.”
Polish officials estimate the flood of pilgrims like Slusarska could reach two million – a sign of the country’s love for the pope whom Poles credit with helping them throw off communist rule. The communist regime collapsed peacefully in 1989-90.
The cramped, 10-year-old bus lumbered through the farm fields of Poland overnight and through the Czech Republic before crossing into Austria this morning. It was still not half way through a journey that was scheduled to get to Rome at 4 a.m. on Friday, the day of the pope’s funeral.
A single hanging pine air freshener was outmatched by years of stale smoke, and the tiny toilet was locked over concerns it could not cope with 30 hours of continuous use. Pilgrims had to navigate a narrow aisle crammed with backpacks to make it to the front and ask the driver for the key if they could not wait.
Travellers paid £82 for the round trip ticket, and planned to camp once they got to Rome.
Passengers took the news stoically that Rome was already overwhelmed by people flocking to say goodbye to the pope, who died Saturday at 84. They felt that even if they did not make their final destination, their pilgrimage was not in vain.
Michal Laskowski, 26, said the journey was almost more important than the destination.
“Here we have the chance to pray, to be together and to prepare for this moment,” the doctoral student said. “I know we could get stuck 300 miles from the Vatican and the ceremony, but it’s important to be together – this community is most important.”
Father Przemyslaw Cwiek, one of the priests on the trip, led a prayer for those on his bus after a breakfast stop, as the diesel engine roared on in the background.
He noted that John Paul himself urged the importance of such treks.
“If we don’t make it to the Vatican, we’ll pray in Rome or outside the city, we don’t know,” he said. “The pope wrote that pilgrimage is the road into the heart – it’s a long journey to be a real Christian.”
