Prayers across Poland for Pope John Paul II

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

Poles held night vigils across the country on Saturday (April 26), a day ahead of the canonisation of Pope John II who will be declared a saint during a ceremony in the Vatican.

A few thousand Krakow residents and pilgrims gathered in front of the Krakow Curia building where John Paul II served as a priest and where he greeted pilgrims during his frequent pilgrimages to his homeland.

The faithful also prayed in a church frequented by the Pope, a Franciscan Basilica across the street from the Curia.

On Sunday (April 27) Pope Francis will declare as saints John Paul II, the revered Pole who led the Church for almost 27 years before his death in 2005 and John XXIII, the Italian pontiff who launched the modernising Second Vatican Council in 1962.

While the late Polish pope is hailed for his role in helping to bring about the fall of communism, critics have questioned his actions as child abuse scandals, which have since shaken