Royal Wedding taking attention away from Vatican ceremony; photo - EPA

Vatican officials are concerned that the global media attention being given to the Royal Wedding is in danger of putting the John Paul II beatification ceremony on Sunday in the shade.

"I have indeed noticed that the wedding is drawing a lot of attention," Father Caesar Atuire, chief executive of Vatican pilgrims' organization Opera Romana Pellegrinaggi (ORP) told the Wall Street Journal.

Clearly concerned that a Super-Celeb wedding like Friday‘s Royal nuptials is not an event comparable to the beatification of the Polish Pope, the priest says a little perspective is needed.

"I wish these two young people all the best in life […] but the events are on two different levels," he said.

Poland's one and only wedding guest

Meanwhile, Barbara Tuge-Erecinska, Poland's ambassador to the United Kingdom and a notable veteran of the Solidarity movement, will be the one Pole to attend the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey tomorrow.

Poland's ambassador will join a colourful mix of personalities and officials, taking in both blue-blooded and showbusiness royalty: Elton John, Guy Ritchie and David and Victoria Beckham are amongst those due to don their most dashing clothes for tomorrow's ceremony.

Barbara Tuge-Erecinska, who was born in Gdansk, has served as Poland's ambassador in London since 2006. However, she has been engaged in international affairs since the early eighties when, as an outstanding linguist, she was asked to set up the clandestine International Department of Solidarity.

Anti-Soviet sentiment was not new to the family, as both her father and grandfather had survived forced labour camps in Siberia.

During martial law, Tuge-Erecinska remained an ardent campaigner, co-founding an organisation with the Church that helped the families of political prisoners. As she revealed to London-based Diplomat monthly, police raids were a daily hazard.

"The worst experience was when my son was one year old - to see those security men searching my baby's cost. That was very unpleasant, but also made me even more determined - so it actually had the opposite effect."

Tuge-Erecinska worked closely with Solidarity until the collapse of communism in 1989, and was then able to emerge from the underground and begin an official diplomatic career.

“I feel privileged to be posted in this special place,” she says of her current posting. (pg/nh)

While thenews.pl wishes the happy couple ‘all the best’ on their wedding day, we will be putting our resources behind coverage of the JP II beatification ceremony on Sunday. Join us then for news on all the latest events and background to an important step in John Paul II’s journey to Sainthood.