The Associated Press website reports that some 1.5 million pilgrims flooded Rome today (May 1, 2011)to watch Pope John Paul II move a step closer to sainthood in one of the largest Vatican Masses in history -- an outpouring of adoration for a beloved and historic figure after years marred by church scandal.
The turnout for the beatification far exceeded even the most optimistic expectation of one million people, the number Rome city officials predicted.
For Catholics filling St. Peter's Square and streets -- and watching around the world -- the beatification was a welcome hearkening back to the days when the pope was almost universally beloved.
John Paul is credited with helping bring down communism in his native Poland with support for the Solidarity movement, thus accelerating the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism in Eastern Europe in 1989.
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