Cracovia Football association has just announced that their stadium is to be renamed after the late Pope John Paul II.
In many ways the idea seems a fitting one. After all, the Pope himself was a distinctly sporty chap, and a longtime supporter of the Cracovia team. Last week, thousands of warring football fans from the rival teams of Cracovia and Wisla joined in a mass of remembrance at the stadium; their earnest declarations of peace capturing the hearts of Cracovians.
However, there have been some dissenting voices. Not least in the light of last weekends violence between Cracovia and Warsaw's Legia. This for many was proof that a peaceful future for the stadium was rather an optimistic premise:
''So the stadium where fans beat each other up will be named after the Pope - it's a profanation'' remarked one commentator to Polish newspaper 'Dziennik Polski'. The paper added that perhaps it might be a a good idea to ask the Curia what they thought of the matter.
Similar problems emerged in Warsaw this week when it was pointed out that John Paul II Avenue sheltered a hive of sex shops. However, it was also noted that the owners of these shops observed all the patterns of mourning which fellow shopkeepers had done on that street.
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