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(COMTEX) B: Spirituality, Commerce Meet in Pope Trip ( AP Online )

COLOGNE, Germany, Aug 19, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- The unofficial beer of
World Youth Day was a popular draw for thirsty pilgrims looking for more than
something to drink.

The beer, bearing a photo of Pope Benedict XVI and brewed in his home of
Bavaria, was among the scores of items being sold or traded among the more than
415,000 pilgrims who journeyed to Cologne for the 20th World Youth Day.

Officially sanctioned T-shirts and mugs with the event's logo, finger rosaries
and pictures of Benedict also were selling quickly as retailers and
restaurateurs reported surging sales from the influx of visitors.

Tomas Medrow, hawking papal suds to the thousands of pilgrims making their way
toward the twin-spired Cologne Cathedral, said he was doing a brisk business.
The sweet-tasting beer, available in a four-pack, sells for $3.05 a bottle.

"They want them as a souvenir to take home, something to show their friends back
in France or the United States," the Cologne resident said.

Other vendors - a mix of young and old - offered candles bearing the image of
the pope, while rosaries and sun hats were ubiquitous. Folding stools with the
event's logo also were popular among weary pilgrims waiting in lines.

Some products were officially sanctioned by the Weltjugendtage 2005 GmbH, the
company that organized the event, and were limited to offerings like candles,
caps, key chains and enamel pins bearing the German flag and the Youth Day logo.

Others, like the T-shirts with Benedict's picture on the front, those with his
name and the numeral 16 in a circle on the back like a soccer jersey, and the
hand-hewn rosary beads sold from street-side stalls, were not.

Katherine Abbt, a 24-year-old German pilgrim from Augsburg, questioned the
tastefulness of some products - in particular the T-shirts bearing Benedict's
photo with the slogan: "The German Shepherd" - but didn't mind the others.

"I think it's OK to sell small pictures of the pope or other mementos," she
said.

Cologne residents have found other ways to make a few extra dollars off the
event as well, from renting rooms in their apartments and homes to listing bunk
beds on the auction Web site eBay.

Stephan Schmidt, 35, pasted fliers on light poles around the cathedral square
advertising a roomy, airy place with a bathroom and kitchen. He hoped to earn an
extra $305.

"I had one person call, but they said it was too expensive," he said.

Others sought to alleviate pilgrims' aches and pains, offering back and foot
massages in their hotels, rooms and even on the streets.

The city plans to release official figures tracking the economic impact later.

On the streets of Cologne, around the cathedral and various churches, people
often engaged in their own barter, trading T-shirts, buttons, badges and flags.

Two Italians approached a group of Nigerian pilgrims, wearing flowing green
robes, on Friday morning.

"Will you trade me your T-shirt for mine?" one Italian girl asked, gesturing
with her hands and offering her hat. The Nigerian pulled one out of his bag and
walked away with a blue safari hat bearing the Italian tricolor.

Hotels and hostels also have been booked for months while restaurants from kebab
shops to steak houses have seen their tables filled with pilgrims washing down
their schnitzel with wine and beer.

Even electronics stores reported a slight uptick in the sale of portable radios
for pilgrims who want to hear real-time translations of the pope's speeches,
including his planned Mass on Saturday, which are being translated into English,
French, Spanish and Italian.

Enrique Reyes, 31, of New York, said pilgrims want to bring home more than just
memories. "We've been waiting for this since last year," he said.

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Associated Press reporter Melissa Eddy contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

http://www.wjt2005.de/index.php?id=6&si=1

By MATT MOORE
AP Business Writer

Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved

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