On his way back to the front of the plane he made a decision to clarify his remarks regarding the current state of war, adding the words about this not being a religious war but a real one.
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The Cardinal, who is expected to retire soon – leading to speculation that the Pope will use some of his time in Poland to sound out bishops and senior laity about his successor – said according to the Catholic News Agency: “We come from every nation under heaven, like those who came in great numbers to Jerusalem on Pentecost Day, but there are incomparably more of us now than 2000 years ago, because we are accompanied by centuries of preaching the Gospel”.
KRAKOW, Poland (AP) – The world is at war, but it is not a war of religions, Pope Francis said Wednesday as he traveled to Poland on his first visit to Central and Eastern Europe in the shadow of the slaying of a priest in France. “All religions want peace, it’s the others who want war”.
“Let’s live WYD (World Youth Day) in Krakow together!” the pontiff tweeted before departing from Rome for Krakow, southern Poland, on Wednesday afternoon.
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Poland at the start of his 15th pastoral visit overseas.
“I would like to go to that place of horror without speeches, without crowds – only the few people necessary”, Francis told reporters in June.
Paul Jarzembowski, the World Youth Day USA national coordinator, told Vatican Radio more US pilgrims were going to this World Youth Day than to any other held outside North America particularly because they related to Francis’ compassion. He added that young Catholics would bring to World Youth Day their experiences of “living the Gospel in a hard world, as well as their “fears and disappointments, hopes and yearning, and desire to live in a more human, more fraternal and solidary world”. She added that she believed the 7,000 Argentines attending World Youth Day had been warmly welcomed in Poland and were “very excited and proud” to be seeing the pope.
“It shocked me because it seems they waited for the time of World Youth Day to attack us Catholics”, said Nounella Blanchedent, 22, from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. “And they want to disturb that”.
The attack came before World Youth Day, one of the biggest catholic gatherings in the world.
She was one of the volunteers helping with logistics at the packed St. Casimir Church, where a Mass was being held in French for pilgrims from France, Belgium and other countries.
Francis will be promoting mercy against a backdrop of recent attacks in Europe and growing fears that Islamist militants are trying to wage a holy war on the continent, particularly after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the murder of a priest, the Rev. Jacques Hamel, as he was saying Mass in a church in northern France Tuesday.
Pope Francis spoke with the Polish diplomates in Krakow’s Wawel Castel immediately after landing in the city’s John Paul II International Airport.
The sense of expectation was apparent in Krakow with papal white-and-yellow flags and images of Pope Francis and Pope John Paul II decorating the streets.
“It’s hard to move around even though offices have closed (for the event) and many people have left the city”, said Anna Gazda, 43, owner of a souvenir shop.
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“We must not be afraid to say the truth, the world is at war because it has lost peace”, the pontiff told journalists aboard a flight from the Rome to Krakow.
