Rome struggles to house mourning millions

[Said1]

By DOUG SAUNDERS

Tuesday, April 5, 2005 Page A1

ROME -- In an empty field on the edge of a highway more than an hour south of Rome, a frenzy of construction was taking place yesterday, as carloads of Roman Catholics arrived to view their new temporary home.

Deep blue tents, hundreds of them, were beginning to cover the grass. A huge cafeteria tent was being built, along with a makeshift hospital.

The tent city will be home to as many as two million Catholic pilgrims this week, part of the crowd that is arriving to pay tribute to Pope John Paul II, who died on Saturday, and to attend his funeral on Friday morning.

The encampment will be one of many improvised accommodations in a city whose hotels have been booked solid for days.

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[Annie]

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No joke! Catch this, they think there could be 2million Poles alone:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm.../ap/20050405/ap_on_re_eu/pope_polish_pilgrims