Around the world, prayers are being said for the ailing Pope. In Poland, in his hometown of Wadowice the local church was packed with well-wishers. One woman said she hoped the Pope makes a swift recovery so that he is around for a long time. “Nothing bad can happen to him,” said another local resident. “Providence will take care of that.”

Pope John Paul was born in Wadowice in 1929. The first pontiff to come from a Marxist country, he saw his own prayers for a re-united Europe bear fruit when the anti-Communist opposition won power in Poland and the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. In Westminster Cathedral in London, British Catholics prayed for the Pope’s health. And in New York at St Patrick’s Cathedral, the faithful gathered to wish the Pope a speedy recovery.

Copyright © 2012 euronews