Poland rapturously celebrated on Thursday the 80th birthday of Pope John Paul II, the country's most famous son -- and nowhere more so than in his hometown of Wadowice.

It was here in southern Poland that the Holy Father was born Karol Wojtyla in 1920, taking up the cloth and rising to become archbishop of nearby Krakow before being elected Bishop of Rome in 1978. The pope made an emotional pilgrimage to his native town last June during a 13-day marathon tour of his homeland, which many assume was the last for the ailing pontiff. Well over 90 percent of Poles are Catholic, and the country's media have been dominated for days by reports leading up to the pope's birthday. The town of Wadowice itself, whose normal population is barely 15,000, was expecting twice that number for a special concert Thursday evening in the main square, bedecked with banners, with some wishing the pope will live to be 100. The day began with a meeting of seven to 10 of Karol Wojtyla's classmates, who attended morning mass in the Church of the Virgin Mary where the pope was baptized and prayed twice daily, meters (yards) from the house where he was born. The house has been turned into a papal museum, and a special exhibition has been put together for his birthday.