Is this Pope John Paul II waving from beyond the grave? Vatican TV director says yes

The fiery figure is being hailed as Pope John Paul II making an appearance beyond the grave. The image, said by believers to show the Holy Father with his right hand raised in blessing, was spotted during a ceremony in Poland.

the Dailymail reports that some think his holiness is visiting us. The details appeared on the Vatican News Service, a TV station in Rome which specialises in religious news broadcasts. Service director Jarek Cielecki, a Polish priest and close friend of John Paul II, travelled to Poland after he heard that an onlooker had photographed the image.

"You can see the image of a person in the flames and I think it is the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," he said.

The images were broadcast continuously on Italian TV and also posted on religious websites, some of which crashed thanks to thousands who logged on to see for themselves the eerie figure that was formed by the flames. The fire was lit during a service at Beskid Zywiecki, close to John Paul's birthplace, on April 2 - the second anniversary of his death. There were hundreds that attended the ceremony. Gregorz Lukasik, the Polish man who took the photos, said:

"It was only afterwards when I got home and looked at the pictures that I realised I had something.

"I showed them to my brother and sister and they, like me, were convinced the flames had formed the image of Pope John Paul II.

"I was so happy with the picture that I showed it to our local bishop who said that Pope John Paul had made many pilgrimages during his life and he was still making them in death."

Fascinating stuff. Is it him? Or are people just seeing what they want to see? It is quite a resemblance.