When spirituality meets commerce. Pope’s German visit spawns product spree

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) — The unofficial beer of World Youth Day is drawing more than just small sips from thirsty pilgrims.

The beer, bearing a photo of Benedict XVI and brewed in his home of Bavaria, is among the scores of items being sold or traded among the more than 415,000 pilgrims that have 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 are also selling quickly as retailers and restaurateurs report surging sales from the influx of visitors.

"It’s drawing sales," said Tomas Medrow, hawking papal suds to the thousands of pilgrims making their way toward the twin-spired Cologne Cathedral. The sweet-tasting beer, available in a four-pack, sells for 2.50 euros ($3.05) a bottle. Medrow said he’s selling a brisk amount — for mementos as well as for drinking.

"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 — offer candles bearing the image of the pope, while rosaries and sun hats are ubiquitous. Folding stools with the event’s logo are popular among weary pilgrims waiting in lines.

Some of the products are officially sanctioned by the Weltjugendtage 2005 GmbH, the company that organized the event, and limited to offerings such as 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, are 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 tried to make a few extra euros (dollars) off the event as well, offering rooms in their apartments and homes for rent 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 250 euro ($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. On one area of the Hohestrasse, the main shopping street, masseurs and masseuses set up folding chairs to let pilgrims sit as they kneaded their shoulders.

On the streets of Cologne, around the cathedral and various churches, people often engage 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.

Enrique Reyes, 31, of the Bronx, New York, said that with the sheer number of people from so many different countries, pilgrims want to bring more than just memories home with them.

"We’ve been waiting for this since last year," he said.

For Cologne’s businesses, the influx means more possible customers. The city plans to release official figures tracking the economic impact later.

In the meantime, though, hotels and hostels 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.

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.

At the MediaMarkt, an electronics and appliance store, a salesman who would not give his name because he said company policy prohibited it said sales of portable radios by Grundig and Sony were brisk, along with headphones.

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