Polish athletes are taking a torch lit from a candle near Pope John Paul II's tomb to his native land on the occasion of the first anniversary of his death.
The athletes, including military men and disabled persons, attended today's general audience with Benedict XVI and 40,000 people in St. Peter's Square.
"Lolek's torch," a reference to a nickname of Karol Wojtyla used by relatives and friends, was lit Tuesday from the candle next to the Polish Pope's tomb beneath the main level of St. Peter's Basilica.
The athletes will go to cities that were symbolic for John Paul II's life, such as Assisi, the shrines of Loreto and Czestochowa, and his birthplace, Wadowice.
The flame is scheduled to arrive in Krakow on April 2, where it will be received by Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was the Pope's longtime secretary, and by thousands of pilgrims gathered in the cathedral. That will occur at the start of a prayer vigil which will culminate at 9:37 p.m., the time when John Paul II died.
The delegation will cover some 505 kilometers (313 miles) -- 225 kilometers in Italy and 280 in Poland. The rest of the trip will be by plane or bus.
In each place where the torch is taken, testimonies and reflections on John Paul II will be recorded in a "Golden Book."
"Lolek's torch" is an initiative approved by Monsignor Slawomir Oder, postulator of John Paul II's cause of beatification and canonization.
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