Camera captures fiery figure of John Paul II

FROM NICK PISA IN ROME
THIS FIERY figure in the flames is being hailed as the latest miracle of Pope John Paul II.
The image, which is said by many to be that of the late Holy Father with his right hand raised in a blessing, appeared during a commemoration ceremony to mark his death.
Details of the figure in the flames first appeared on the Vatican News Service, a television station which specialises in religious news broadcasts.
Vatican News Service director Fr Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of the late Pope John Paul II, described the event after attending a service at Beskid Zywiecld, close to the Holy Father's birthplace at Wadowice, southern Poland.
The pictures were broadcast continuously on Italian television and also posted on religious websites as well as websites for Italian newspapers with a link to the Polish religious website www.korazym.org.
The site crashed several times as thousands of people logged on the link to see for themselves the eerie figure which had been formed by the flames of a bonfire.The service had taken place on April 2 two years to the date of Pope John Paul's death close to a religious shrine and had been attended by hundreds of people.
Polish cameraman Gregorz Lukasik took the photographs on a brand new camera and once he displayed them on his computer and saw the image he imme diately contacted Fr Cielecki.
Mr Lukasik said: "I had only just bought the camera and I was taking some pictures of the event to commemorate the death of Pope John Paul II. I took several pictures and at the time didn't think anything of them. It was only afterwards when I got home and looked at the pictures that I realised I had something. I showed them to my brother and sister and they, like me, were convinced the flames had formed the image of Pope John Paul II. There is a tongue of flame to one side, which resembles his right arm raised as if giving a blessing.
"I was so happy with the picture that I showed it to our local bishop who said that Pope John Paul had made many pilgrimages during his life and he was still making them in death."
Fr Cielecki said: "You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II."