Populous Praises Pope

Pilgrims hold banners
during a Mass on eve of Pope Benedict XVI's 80th birthday,
in St Peter's Square, April 15 , 2007, in Vatican City

Pope Benedict continues drawing huge crowds

Vatican, Apr. 17, 2007 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI continues to draw enormous crowds to the Vatican, official statistics show.

Nearly 3.4 million people have attended papal audiences or liturgical events at which the Pope presided during the 2nd year of his pontificate.

As the Holy Father nears the 2nd anniversary of his election on April 19, the prefecture of the pontifical household has released official figures for attendance at papal events during the past 12 months. The figures closely match the attendance statistics for the calendar year 2006, which showed total attendance of 3.2 million.

According to the Vatican's official figures, just over 1 million people have attended the Pope's regular Wednesday public audiences during the past year; another 1.46 have attended the Sunday Angelus audiences; 350,000 have been included in special group audiences; and over 536,000 have attended pontifical liturgies.

Pope Benedict's popularity compares favorably with that of his predecessor. In last two full years of his reign, Pope John Paul II drew 2.6 million people to audiences and liturgical events in 2003, and 2.2 million in 2004.