CHURCHES in the Polish city of Krakow – where Pope John Paul II served as archbishop before being elected Pope in 1978 – remained open overnight for mourners to pray for their favourite son after his death at the Vatican.
Krakow Cardinal Franciszek Macharski made the announcement on April 2 outside archdiocesan headquarters in Krakow to the more than 20,000 Poles who had gathered there for an ongoing vigil after the Pope’s condition worsened on March 31.
Archbishop Jozef Zycinski of Lublin noted that the Pope died on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday, which he instituted after he canonised the movement’s Polish founder, St Faustina Kowalska, in 2000.
In Krakow, people kept vigils in the city’s Blonia Park, where the Pope celebrated Mass before 2.5 million people during his last trip to Poland in August 2002; before the graves of the Pope’s parents in the city’s Rakowicki cemetery; and at the Sanctuary of Divine Mercy.
In Warsaw, thousands of mostly young Catholics assembled outside St Anna Church on April 2 and lit candles along the nearby boulevard.
Hours before the Pope’s death was announced, Msgr Andrzej Galka, who is rector of St Martin Church in Warsaw’s Old Town quarter, told grieving Catholics that the Pope’s deathbed serenity was “the greatest proclamation of faith” of his pontificate.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski declared a period of national mourning until the Pope’s funeral.
Speaking at the televised ceremony, Mr Kwasniewski described the Pope as “Poland’s greatest countryman” who was “revered and admired” by Christians and non-Christians alike.
The Polish bishops’ conference said the Pope had “served God and led the Church on a secure path of faith and the Gospel”. CNS
