By SEVERIN CARRELL - GUARDIAN.CO.UK
Added: Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:19:49 UTC

Pope's Glasgow visit: umbrellas are banned, there are no seats and security dictates mass-goers have to stay for five hours

The 100,000 Roman Catholics expected to attend the pope's open-air "great mass" in Glasgow have been urged by their cardinal to endure the "sacrifices" the event will involve. Tens of thousands of pilgrims in Glasgow will have to get to next Thursday's event at Bellahouston Park on public transport after their private coaches were cancelled.

Umbrellas have been banned, there will be no seating provided, and pilgrims will have to stay in the park for at least five hours on security grounds.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of Scotland's Roman Catholics, said there had been "ups and downs" and "hiccups" with the event, but was confident that close to 100,000 people would attend. He said: "I'm sure that the optimism which has already been engendered will increase."

Strathclyde passenger transport said extra buses and subway trains were being put on to cope.

O'Brien, who will host Pope Benedict at the start of his four-day state visit next week, said the open-air mass was not intended to be luxurious.

"At the great mass at Bellahouston, you're there for a serious purpose, to join in the celebration of mass, to listen to the word of God, to listen to the teaching of the church being proclaimed by Pope Benedict XVI, and that is a serious business," he said.

"You're not sitting back at the beach relaxing: it's something serious and obviously there's something penitential. There is penance involved in it, just sacrifice; sacrificing of time, sacrificing of comfort, sacrificing of your energy and so on, to be involved in all that's going on. And I see great benefit from that as well."

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TAGGED: POPE