Services of thanksgiving are held in all Polish churches. A morning mass, broadcast nationwide on Polish Radio, was celebrated at Warsaw’s Holy Cross Church by Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz.
Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, who served for many years as the Polish pope’s private secretary, will deliver a television address Sunday evening.
Due to the social-distancing rules at the time of the pandemic, the events in tribute to Pope John Paul II are available online and on television. These include a concert entitled “I was born in Wadowice”, carried live from four towns that were particularly close to Karol Wojtyła’s heart: his native town of Wadowice, Kraków where he served as bishop and cardinal, Częstochowa, with its Black Madonna shrine, and Gdańsk on the Baltic coast.
On Monday, the anniversary of the pope’s birth itself, the Wadowice town council is to meet in a special session during which medals of honour will be given to those who have made outstanding contribution to the promotion of the teaching of John Paul II.
A huge layer cake, which has long been an annual attraction of the Pope’s birthday in Wadowice, will not be distributed this year in the town’s market square but will be offered to residents of the social welfare homes in the town.
Karol Wojtyła lived in Wadowice until his high school-leaving exams. From there he moved to Kraków where he began his university studies. He made three visits to Wadowice during his pilgrimages to Poland.
On October 16, 1978, Karol Wojtyła was elected the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. His first visit to his homeland in June 1979, then under communist rule, is seen as one of the key factors in the rise of the Solidarity movement and the subsequent collapse of the communist regime.
In 1981 he nearly died in an assassination attempt in St. Peter’ Square.
During his long pontificate, lasting 26 years, 5 months and 17 days, John Paul II travelled to 129 countries, issued 14 encyclicals and wrote several books which became bestsellers. He was the first pope to pray in a synagogue, in Rome; the first to enter a mosque in an Islamic country, in Damascus: and the first to preside a meeting of the heads of all the major world religions, at a day of prayer for peace in Assisi in 1986.
He died on April 2, 2005. He was beatified on May 1, 2011, and declared a saint on April 27, 2014.
(mk)