Pope Francis encouraged his churchmen to leave their comfort zones and tend to the needy on the peripheries as he celebrated a Mass Saturday in a Polish church dedicated to St. John Paul II, the Polish pontiff whose staunch defense of workers’ rights in the 1970s and 80s challenged his nation’s then Communist rulers.
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Cardinal Luis Tagle says that a gesture such this is a mark of papal visits such as when he went to the Philippines past year when – aside from the gift of his presence – he also gave a gift that would stay and that would benefit the poor. Pope Francis made these impromptu remarks on Saturday to crowds of young people gathered outside of Krakow’s St. John Paul II shrine.
Pope Francis urged “drowsy and boring kids” to swop their sofas and video games for walking boots on Saturday (July 30) at an global Catholic youth festival in Poland.
Hours after visiting a shrine to his predecessor John Paul II in Krakow, the Argentinian pontiff capped a five-day trip to Poland by addressing a mass rally of Catholic youth.
“We are not closed”, Dziwisz said. His visit came a day after the militant murder of a priest in France and in the wake of a series of attacks in Europe.
The frail, 82-year-old John Paul II consecrated the new basilica during his last visit to his homeland in 2002, by anointing its white marble altar and celebrating prayers there. John Paul stressed then his special attachment to St. Faustina, whose accounts in her diary of visions of Jesus spread devotion to Divine Mercy.
Meanwhile, Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi said Pope Francis has met with a child without legs for whom he bought artificial limbs.
“Pope John Paul II came here as a son of the Polish people”, Benedictus said.
He said he approached members of the church hierarchy several months ago with the idea of including a meeting during the pope’s visit to Poland this week. The Argentine pope also heard confessions from seven young people and a priest, speaking Italian, Spanish or French.
At least for a few minutes at World Youth Day, the physical barriers between Palestinian and Israeli communities were nonexistent.
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He will end his visit to Poland on Sunday after a Mass in the same meadow, the crowning event of the youth jamboree.
