Just one week after registration began, around 50,000 people have signed up for Pope Francis' upcoming mass in Transylvania.
Márta Bodó, press organizer of the papal visit said that since online registration opened on March 1st, some 300 groups and 45 to 50,000 individual pilgrims have completed registration and received their unique barcodes.
According to Rmx.news, online registration is needed so organizers can establish how many pilgrims they can expect. On the other hand, the location of the ceremonial mass which will be held by pope Francis on June 1st in the so called “saddle” between the Kis- and the Nagysomlyó-mountain, will be an area protected by the Romanian State Security Services, and only the people who have completed online registration and have their voucher printed with a unique barcode will be allowed entry.
While individuals can also register, the organizers suggest group registration as the easier way: the leader of a group can apply for a single registration, assemble the list of people in his or her group, thus only having to provide his personal details and the size of the group. He will then receive barcoded tickets for the members of the group, then print and distribute them to the participants.
Groups will also be given preference when assigning places in the viewing area, romkat.ro writes. Registration will end on March 31st.