Camino de Santiago de Compostela

[ivar]

... this is what El Correo Gallego is speculating today.

More here.

[JohnnieWalker]

which route do you think he will walk? The Frances...VdlP...???

[Lila]

Hi there,
Do you have any news on the pope coming or not in 2010?

Umberto

[ivar]

No news in the Galician press on this recently...

[kubapigora]

A lot of people would be dissapointed, if Pope Benedict XVI would skip Santiago in his pilgrimage schedule for the next year. I hope, He will come, but if there was no official announcements untill now...

[sillydoll]

I wonder if he will be denied 'real' pilgrim status if he doesn't walk at least 800km carrying his own back pack, staying only in basic refuges, eating frugal pilgrim meals and has a few blisters to show for it?

[kubapigora]

Oh, well. You do know the answer to that.

[JohnnieWalker]

I wonder if he will be denied 'real' pilgrim status if he doesn't walk at least 800km carrying his own back pack, staying only in basic refuges, eating frugal pilgrim meals and has a few blisters to show for it?

Errrrr...and who is it that awards this "real" pilgrim status Sil?

[kubapigora]

Hmm, we call Him- The Boss.

[sillydoll]

I always thought is was other pilgrims???

[JohnnieWalker]

:idea: I always thought is was other pilgrims???

Quite! And to borrow from an old saying...

There nowt as real as thee and me
And even thee's not as real as me

But we should send a message to the Vatican advising that El Papa carry no more than 5 kgs in a GoLite bag in Papal colours, use his Bishop's Crook as a walking stick and wear liner socks of any colour under the red ones.

[sillydoll]

No! No, no, no Johnnie!
Traditional pilgrims not only walked, carried everything, slept in mangy shelters and ate gruel, they also didn't have GoLite packs, neoprene, polyproplylene, drip-dry, credit cards, cash passports, cell phones, iPods, Internet, email, Blackberry - or a return ticket home.
How can we ever presume to be 'traditional pilgrims' just by walking?
Red socks???

[oursonpolaire]

I believe that it`s red shoes, with white socks. Doubtless Vasque or Merrell could run up a pair of red hiking boots for His Holiness.

J2P2 walked a few km of the Camino. Clearly it's not that easy for pontiffs to do much more, given that they tend to be older men and that we don`t want the trail over-ridden with security personnel, but does anyone know if other popes have walked the Camino in their pre-pope days? Certainly John Paul II and Pius XI were athletic types as younger men, climbing mountains and skiing and canoeing, but had not been able to easily travel the Camino, but might there have been mediaeval popes who did the Camino?

[kubapigora]

Pope JPII was walking paths in his favourite Beskid Żywiecki Mountains. Now we have Pope trails there, so we can walk the exact routes, he was walking on. But, that has nothing to do with the Camino I'm affraid...

[sillydoll]

I read that Karol Jozef Wojtyla (Pope John Paul11) walked the camino as a young man - not sure of the source, will try to trace it.

[Caminando]

Now we have Pope trails there, so we can walk the exact routes, he was walking on.

[falcon269]

The Pope's visit to Lourdes in 2008 was a major mob scene; they were still cleaning up several days later! I can only imagine the city of Santiago in a jubilee year during a papal visit! Ivar will have to give us a live computer feed.

[Gareth Thomas]

which route do you think he will walk?

Walk? This Pope doesn't do walking! He'll be racing along the Camino in the Popemobile flanked by security guys on mountain-bikes wearing armoured Lycra, shoving the foot pilgrims off the path, all shouting "Buen Camino...!!!" as they disappear in a cloud of dust.

Gareth

[Gareth Thomas]

... this is what El Correo Gallego is speculating today.

Yes, but they quote the wrong reasons, doubtless due to their dodgy sources: "Fuentes próximas al Vaticano avalan esta hipótesis..." Never listen to Vatican sources. No, the real reason that Pope Benedict will do the Camino is that he has read Hape Kerkeling's book.

Gareth

[JohnnieWalker]

Beats carrying a rucksack!