POLISH VILLAGE PRAYS FOR MADONNA TO VISIT

WARSAW (Reuters) - Pop diva Madonna may have upset some Catholic Poles by timing her debut Polish concert to coincide with a big religious holiday on Saturday, but she is sure of a warm welcome if she visits the tiny village of Rumin.
In Rumin in central Poland, her fans plan to name a street after her and want to make her an honorary 'citizen'. If she does visit, the young girls of the village also intend to perform dances for her in the freshly harvested fields.

"Rumin is like Madonna, Rumin is top. Rumin is trendy, Rumin is fashion. That's the general idea and we want to underline that Rumin is very similar to Madonna. And we want Madonna to join Rumin by accepting honorary citizenship," said Mariusz Ciszak, the main organizer of the campaign.

He has designed Madonna T-shirts and sweaters which some of the villagers are now wearing.

It was not clear on Friday whether Madonna had any plans to visit the village, about 230 km (143 miles) west of Warsaw, during her stay.

Madonna has upset some believers in devoutly Roman Catholic Poland by timing her Polish debut concert to coincide with the day when Christians mark the Virgin Mary's ascension to heaven.

Madonna has often annoyed conservative Christians, kissing an actor playing Jesus in one of her videos and staging a crucifixion scene in her last world tour.

As well as her Warsaw concert, the singer is also expected to pay a visit to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in southern Poland where up to 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, perished during World War Two.

Madonna is a follower of the Kabbalah, a mystical strand of Judaism, though she is not Jewish and was raised as a Catholic.

(Writing by Gareth Jones, editing by Paul Casciato)
http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE57D3PN20090814