1,000 Irish to see Padre Pio beatified

Up to 1,000 people are expected to travel from Ireland to Italy for the beatification by Pope John Paul of Capuchin priest Padre Pio this weekend, while thousands more will celebrate the occasion at ceremonies around Ireland. The Irish office for Padre Pio has reserved 1,000 seats in St Peter's Square for pilgrims from Ireland.

The office's director, Ms Eileen Maguire, says "an awful lot more" people would have made the journey had seating been allocated earlier by the organisers of the ceremony. Travel agency JWT takes up to 2,000 people to the Italian priest's birthplace in San Giovanni every summer. Devotees of Padre Pio - who died 21 years ago - believe his personal effects have been responsible for miraculous cures. Gloves and bandages worn by him are particularly cherished by his followers because he had wounds (stigmata) which they believe corresponded with the scars of the crucified Christ. Padre Pio was also credited with bi-location.

Beatification is a formal positive declaration by the church after a canonical process that a person is "particularly holy and worthy of veneration".

The Irish delegation will be issued with hats and scarves made in the San Giovanni friary, so they can participate in the Italian tradition of throwing them in the air at the end of such a ceremony. A giant video screen will be erected in the Piazza San Giovanni 3 km away to cater for the spill-over. After the ceremony, the Pope is expected to move to the second venue to perform the Angelus.

In Ireland, a large crowd is expected at a thanksgiving ceremony at the Capuchin Franciscan friary in Church Street, Dublin. Other ceremonies are planned in Cork, Kilkenny, Ards and Cavan.

Mrs Mona Hanafin and her husband, Senator Des Hanafin, will travel to Rome. Ms Hanafin expects 10,000 people to attend a celebration of Padre Pio's beatification in Holycross, Co Tipperary. She and her husband would like to represent "all the people who can't go to Rome for reasons of ill health or lack of funding".

"The devotion in Ireland to Padre Pio is unbelievable. I have bags of petitions going over and I get calls every day to bring his mitten to sick people." Mrs Hanafin credits Padre Pio with curing her cancer: "I met him and I'm delighted to be alive to tell the story. In thanksgiving I promised to dedicate my life to promoting him. He's a saint of our time."