Pope Francis will be in Częstochowa
(L.D.)
Our hopes come true. Pope Francis will visit Częstochowa during the World Youth Days which will take place in Kraków in 2016. This message was officially confirmed during the 369th General Meeting of the Polish Episcopal Conference which was held in Warsaw on 9-10 June 2015. In a letter published on 11 June 2015 entitled: ‘A gift and a task’, edited for the time of preparations of the archdiocese for the World Youth Days, archbishop Wacław Depo – the metropolitan of Częstochowa wrote: ‘(…) I would like to give you a joyful news that the Holy Father Francis confirmed his desire of a prayer and a meeting with us at Jasna Góra’. In interviews given to ‘Niedziela’ and Radio Fiat in relation to this fact, archbishop Depo noted that arrival of pope Francis at Jasna Góra is related to Mary’s spirituality of the Holy Father. It has already become a custom that pope Francis visits Our Lady in the basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in order to entrust Her his apostolic journeys. When he was going to young people in 2013, waiting for him in Rio de Janeiro, he had visited Our Lady in the national sanctuary of the Brazilian nation in Aparecida. Everyone also knows the Holy Father’s worship to Mary in the picture of Our Lady Solving Knots. The desire of Pope Francis to visit Jasna Góra in relation to his stay in Poland during the World Youth Days in 2016 is natural and obvious. – Entrustment to God through Mary is something extraordinary for the Holy Father. Choosing Jasna Góra as a station during the Polish pilgrimage in 2016 is a discovery and confirmation the specific character of this place for him. This is also a confirmation of righteousness of Mary’s road on which the Polish Church is walking – notes archbishop Depo.
AA
„Niedziela” 25/2015