Hundreds of Poles continued to pray for their beloved countrymen Pope John Paul in his hometown of Wadowice Saturday, packing the town's cathedral even after the official mourning period has ended.
"People don't seem to want to go home," city spokesman Marek Brzezniak told The Associated Press. "The church has been packed since the early morning hours."
Brzezniak said that three masses were planned for Saturday in St. Mary's Basilica where he was baptized.
"People go to church, lay flowers in front of his statue which stands on the square and then visit his home."
Pastry shops in Wadowice were also crowded, as Poles stood in long lines to buy kremowki, a cream-filled pastry that the Pope once mentioned he used to buy as a boy - and that have since become known as "Pope pastries."
Additionally, a granite statue of the kneeling Pope with a rosary in his hand was unveiled Saturday in Krakow's Rakowicki cemetery, where his parents and his brother are buried.
In Warsaw on Friday, around 100,000 people silently marched through the capital with lighted candles. The streets continued to be filled with people well after the march ended around midnight.
Some Poles turned out the lights in their homes for five minutes at 9:37 p.m. local time on Friday, the hour of the Pope's death, responding to an e-mail and mobile phone campaign that urged people to "make Poland go dark for a moment."
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