Pope bids homeland farewell after visit to shrine

An ailing Pope John Paul II, praying to Mary, asked for the strength to continue his papal mission yesterday at a mountain shrine he often visited as a boy and young man.

The 82-year-old Pope suffers from Parkinson's disease, as well as hip and knee ailments which have left him stooped, and his speech is sometimes slurred. But despite his frailty, he has brushed aside any notion that he might step down during the nostalgic four-day journey to his native Poland, which ended yesterday.

The rousing welcome by his fellow countrymen has raised John Paul's spirits, but his weakened physical condition has been evident. He omitted a section of his prepared homily at a mass celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Kalwaria Zebrzydowska shrine, and at times his speech faltered.

Typifying the excitement surrounding the Pope's ninth visit home, bells tolled as he approached the Kalwaria monastery, which was draped in Polish and Vatican flags. A waiting crowd of 60,000 chanted: "Your people welcome you, John Paul II." Tens of thousands more gathered along the 45km (30-mile) winding route to the sanctuary to catch a glimpse of the Pope on what many fear will be his last visit.

Kalwaria was the last official stop on the Pope's trip down memory lane. He also visited a sanctuary where he prayed under Nazi occupation, the cathedral where he said his first mass as a priest and his parents' graves.

From Kalwaria, the Pope flew over his home, Wadowice, greeted by a sea of 12,000 people waving yellow Vatican flags and singing as the helicopter circled the main square three times on the way to Krakow airport for departure. (AP)