The Holy Father, Poland's Favorite Son

Krakow - About one million people gathered in a candlelit park Thursday for a night mass for Pope John Paul II, who served as bishop and cardinal in the city before being called to Rome as pope.

The crowd held up candles that made the vast Blonie meadows, where huge crowds gathered for John Paul during his visits as pope, look like a star-filled sky.

The mass, which followed a silent march that filled Krakow's old-town streets wall to wall, peaked when the crowd sang the late pontiff's favourite song, The Barge.

"I know that he is here with us," said Joanna Godawa, 25, who works for a travel agency that sent about 600 people to Rome for the funeral.

"He is looking at us from above and smiling. He is peaceful and happy that we have gathered here for him."

"There is no mood of mourning, no despair. We are experiencing peace, we are focused on prayer, we are happy in our being here together for him," said Godawa.

'The right thing to do'

Bishop Jan Szkodan alluded to papal masses that drew huge crowds in the meadows in 1979, 1983, 1997 and 2002, when about two million people turned out.

A million people were waiting there in 1999, when the pope had to cancel because of illness.

"It is the right thing for Krakow to bid farewell to him here, in the meadows," said Szkodan. "We are here to bid him farewell, but also to receive his teachings anew."

Looking out at the many young adults and teenagers in the crowd, he added, "He used to tell young people, you are the future of the world, so it is good so many young people have gathered here."

Krakow police spokesperson Sylwia Bober said the crowd numbered about a million.

White clothes

During the march from Krakow's Market Square, many wore white clothes or white ribbons symbolising hope and as a tribute to the pope's white robes.

"I am taking part in this march to bid farewell to a great compatriot, and I think it is only now we realise whom we had and whom we have lost," said Aleksandra Wojaczek, 22, student of Polish literature at Krakow's Jagiellonian University.