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(Vatican Radio) Following his encounter with Poland’s political leaders in Krakow’s Wawel Castle on Wednesday, Pope Francis met privately with the nation’s bishops in the nearby basilica dedicated to the saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus.

The first royal arch-cathedral basilica was built on the site almost a thousand years ago, while the current Gothic construction was begun in the 14th century. It is Poland’s national shrine and has served as the coronation site of kings over the centuries.

It is also the cathedral of the archdiocese of Krakow and it was in the crypt that Fr Karol Wojtyla celebrated his first Mass following his ordination in November 1946, before becoming archbishop of the city in 1964.

After being welcomed to the basilica by the current Archbishop of Krakow Stanislaw Dziwisz, Pope Francis stood for a few moments of silent prayer in front of the tomb of St Stanislaus, where the relics of Saint John Paul II have also been placed.  

Pope Francis then went to the chapel behind the main altar to venerate the Blessed Sacrament before holding a private meeting with the country’s 130 bishops.

Before setting off for Krakow, the Pope decided not to give an official speech to the bishops, but rather to hold a private encounter during which all the Church leaders could speak freely and informally. Fr Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office, explained that the Pope wanted the occasion to be as spontaneous and authentic as possible: a moment in which the bishops and the Pope could be at ease and free to exchange opinions or ask questions.

Fr Lombardi pointed out that there would be no television coverage of the event since Pope Francis has made clear that he prefers such a “familiar encounter” when he meets with bishops during his pastoral journeys abroad. 

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis made a courtesy visit to the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, on Wednesday afternoon, following his encounter with civil authorities, civil society leaders, and the diplomatic corps, and ahead of his scheduled private meeting with the Bishops of Poland, at the beginning of his five-day Apostolic Journey to the native land of his predecessor, Pope St. John Paul II.

The Holy Father presented President Duda with a gift: the official commemorative medal of the visit, depicting the “Black Madonna” – a famous image of the Mother of God and an object of intense devotion – on one side, the logo of the 31st  World Youth Day on the other.

Please find a detailed description of the medal, below

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The commemorative medal of the Apostolic Journey depicts  the Black Virgin of Czestochowa and the logo of the 31st World Youth Day, work of the artist Daniela Longo. The symbolism of the logo unites, in an evocative way, several  elements of this World Youth Day. Its theme is taken from  the Gospel of Matthew “Blessed are the merciful , for they  shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7). A cross at the center of the  medal refers to Christ who is the core of the World Youth  Day. Two rays, one red and the other blue/light blue, emanate  from the cross, representing the rays of the Divine Mercy. They are the blood and water flowing from the side of Christ,  as seen in the image described by Saint Faustina Kowalska. The rays are intertwined with the arms of a young man  embracing the cross. The logo is positioned within a coat of  arms shaped like Poland. The head of the young man  indicates the geographical location of Krakow, while the  colors being used, blue, red and yellow, refer to the official  colors of the town. 

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(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis has arrived in Poland at the start of a five-day apostolic journey.

It’s his 15th pastoral visit abroad and features many highlights including participation in the 31st World Youth Day taking place in Krakow, where he will lead a ‘Via Crucis’,celebrate the closing Mass and meet with some of the tens of thousands of young people from across the globe in various occasions.

During his visit the Pope will also visit the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, he will celebrate Holy Mass at the nation's holiest shrine at Jasna Gora and he will pray at the Shrine of Divine Mercy.

After landing in Krakow this afternoon Pope Francis addressed the country’s political leaders and urged them to welcome migrants fleeing from wars and hunger.

Vatican Radio’s Lydia O’Kane is in Poland reporting on the Pope’s visit. She speaks about his first steps on Polish soil and about the reception he is receiving…

Listen: 

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(Vatican Radio) Imprisoned ex Leader of Peru Alberto Fujimori isn`t going to get a happy seventy eighth birthday, as his latest request for a Presidential pardon has been rejected. 

Listen to the report by James Blears:

Outgoing President Ollanta Humala is refusing to pardon ex President Alberto Fujimori, who`s serving a twenty five year prison term, after being convicted of human rights violations.  

He`d also denied a request for this in 2013. 

This coming Thursday incoming President Pablo Kuczynski will be inaugurated.  That day is also Fujimori`s seventy eighth birthday, and although the new President won`t help him to blow out the candles, he is offering a flicker and glimmer of hope, but suggesting it could be house arrest instead of behind bars in jail. 

Fujimori`s daughter Keiko was the runner up in the June 5th Presidential Election.  

The President is the only one who can grant pardons and clemency. 

Some admire Alberto Fujimori`s Presidency which spanned the 1990`s, especially for the defeat of Maoist armed group Shining Path.  While others insist that nothing can justify, human rights abuses. 

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Vatican City, Jul 27, 2016 / 09:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On the flight to Poland for World Youth Day, Pope Francis on Wednesday responded to recent violence across the globe by saying that the world is at war.

“When I speak of war, I talk about it seriously, but it’s not a war of religion. It’s a war for money, for resources, for nature, for dominion. This is the war,” Pope Francis told journalists on his July 27 flight from Rome to Krakow.

“Could one think of a religious war? No. All religions want peace. Others want war,” he said. “Is that clear?”

Francis addressed the 70 journalists on board the papal plane when, as usual, he came to the back to greet them each individually and thank them for their work.

However, before going down the rows of eager writers and photographers on board, Fr. Federico Lombardi SJ, who will retire as Vatican spokesman after the trip, asked the Pope to offer some words on the “emotional days” at hand considering recent tragedies, including yesterday’s attack in at a church in Rouen that left an 84-year-old priest dead.

In his comments, Francis noted that “for some time we have said that the world is in a piecemeal war. This is war.”

Frequently what’s happening is called “insecurity, but the true word is war. There was that of 14 (First World War), with its methods, then that of 39 to 45 (Second World War), and now there’s another great war. This is what we are experiencing now.”

This war is real, he said, noting that while it might not necessarily be “organic,” it is organized.

He pointed to yesterday’s attack in the French diocese of Rouen in which Fr. Jacques Hamel, 84, was killed by two Islamic State supporters while celebrating Mass.

“This holy priest who died precisely in the moment in which he offered prayers for the entire Church is one, but there are many Christians, many innocent people, many children,” who suffer the same type of violence and hatred, he noted, pointing to Nigeria as an example.

“It’s war: we’re not afraid to tell this truth,” Francis said, explaining that the world is at war because “it has lost peace.”

The Pope then thanked the journalists for their work during World Youth Day, adding that youth “always speaks to us of hope.”

“Now we hope that the youth tell us something and give us hope at this time,” he said, and offered his thanks to those who “harbor condolences” for yesterday’s attack, as well as French president Francois Holland, who “called me like a brother” after the incident, “and I thank him.”

After offering these brief words to those on board, Pope Francis went down the rows of journalists to greet each of the 70 on board individually.

 

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Krakow, Poland, Jul 27, 2016 / 10:40 am (CNA/EWTN News).- After landing in Krakow on Wednesday, Pope Francis told Polish leaders to take a look at their history and use it as an inspiration to take the good and leave the bad behind, including when it comes to modern-day issues such as migration.

“Memory is the hallmark of the Polish people,” the Pope told national leaders after his arrival to Krakow July 27.

He said he was always impressed by Pope St. John Paul II, a Polish native, due to his “vivid sense of history. Whenever he spoke about a people, he started from its history, in order to bring out its wealth of humanity and spirituality.”

To have an awareness of one’s own identity that is free of any “pretensions to superiority” is something “indispensable for establishing a national community on the foundation of its human, social, political, economic and religious heritage,” he said.

Francis noted how in the everyday life of each individual and society, “there are two kinds of memory: good and bad, positive and negative.”

Good memory, he said, is what Mary shows us in her Magnificat when she praises the Lord for his saving works, while negative memory “keeps the mind and heart obsessively fixed on evil, especially the wrongs committed by others.”

“Looking at your recent history, I thank God that you have been able to let good memory have the upper hand,” he said, citing the 2015 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the “Letter of Forgiveness” exchanged between the Polish and German episcopates following the Second World War.

“That initiative, which initially involved the ecclesial communities, also sparked an irreversible social, political, cultural and religious process that changed the history of relationships between the two peoples,” Francis observed, and cited the joint-declaration between the Catholic Church in Poland and the Orthodox Church of Moscow as another example.

Given these recent examples, the “noble Polish nation has thus shown how one can nurture good memory while leaving the bad behind,” the Pope said, and urged them to do the same in the future.

Pope Francis spoke with the Polish diplomates in Krakow’s Wawel Castel immediately after landing in the city’s John Paul II International Airport. He will be on an official visit to the country July 27-31 to participate in World Youth Day.

In his speech, the Pope noted how the trip marks his first visit to central-eastern Europe, and that he is “happy to begin with Poland, the homeland of the unforgettable Saint John Paul II, originator and promoter of the World Youth Days.”

He noted how John Paul frequently spoke of a Europe that “breathes with two lungs,” and said that the idea of a “new European humanism” gets its inspiration from the “creative and coordinated breathing of these two lungs, together with the shared civilization that has its deepest roots in Christianity.”

Francis then noted how Poland recently celebrated the 1,050th anniversary of its baptism, which he will commemorate with a special Mass at the shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa July 28, calling it “a powerful moment of national unity.”

The event, he said, “reaffirmed that harmony, even amid a diversity of opinions, is the sure path to achieving the common good of the entire Polish people.”

“Similarly, fruitful cooperation in the international sphere and mutual esteem grow through awareness of, and respect for, one’s own identity and that of others. Dialogue cannot exist unless each party starts out from its own identity,” he said, and encouraged the Polish people to take a look at their recent past.

In order to look at one’s history and take the good while leaving the bad behind, one must have “a solid hope and trust in the One who guides the destinies of peoples, opens closed doors, turns problems into opportunities and creates new scenarios from situations that appeared hopeless.”

This is evident given Poland’s own historical context, the Pope said, noting that an awareness of the progress made, coupled with the joy of achieving one’s goals, becomes a source of strength for facing current challenges.

These challenges, he said, “call for the courage of truth and constant ethical commitment, to ensure that decisions and actions, as well as human relationships, will always be respectful of the dignity of the person.”

“In this, every sphere of action is involved, including the economy, environmental concerns and the handling of the complex phenomenon of migration,” he said, noting that the topic of migration in particular “calls for great wisdom and compassion, in order to overcome fear and to achieve the greater good.”

“There is a need to seek out the reasons for emigration from Poland and to facilitate the return of all those wishing to repatriate,” Francis said, adding that “a spirit of readiness” to welcome those fleeing war and hunger and to show solidarity with those deprived of fundamental rights, including the right to “profess one’s faith in freedom and safety,” is also needed.

However, Pope Francis noted that at the same time, new methods of cooperation are needed at the international level in order resolve the conflicts and wars which “force so many people to leave their homes and their native lands.”

This, he said, “means doing everything possible to alleviate the suffering while tirelessly working with wisdom and constancy for justice and peace, bearing witness in practice to human and Christian values.”

Given Poland’s complex, history, Francis invited the Polish nation “to look with hope to the future and the issues before it,” explaining that attitude will help foster “a climate of respect between all elements of society and constructive debate on differing positions.”

He spoke of the need for social policies which support the poor, families and the disadvantaged, stressing that “life must always be welcomed and protected.”

“These two things go together – welcome and protection, from conception to natural death. All of us are called to respect life and care for it.”

On the other hand, the Pope noted that it is also the responsibility of the State, the Church and society to both accompany and assist those “in serious difficulty” in order to ensure that “a child will never be seen as a burden but as a gift, and those who are most vulnerable and poor will not be abandoned.”

Francis closed his speech by affirming the full cooperation of the Catholic Church with Poland, so that “the nation may, in changed historical conditions, move forward in fidelity to its finest traditions and with trust and hope, even in times of difficulty. May Our Lady of Czestochowa bless and protect Poland!”

 

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Paris, France, Jul 27, 2016 / 11:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Sister Danielle, one of the religious who was held hostage by ISIS at a church in France, was able to escape in a moment of inattention by the terrorists and alert the police.

However, they were not able to arrive in time to save the life of 84-year-old Father Jacques Hamel.

Speaking to RMC Radio, the sister related the incident that led to the death of the first priest at the hands of ISIS in Europe and which left another person severely wounded.

“I didn't think they were going to come after Jacques. It was still dawn. He was standing in front of the altar, they made him get down on his knees and then he started to resist. When we saw the knife in the right hand I said to myself, 'well, something's really going to happen there,'” she said.
 
Sister Danielle said that even though the other nun and the faithful present were shouting to the terrorists to stop, they went ahead.

“They were shouting 'you Christians are wiping us out.' They were taping themselves on video. They made a kind of sermon around the altar in Arabic. It was horrifying.”

“He was an extraordinary priest,” she recalled, “that's all I can say. Father Jacques is great.”

Fr. Hamel was killed Tuesday after two armed gunmen stormed a church in Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray in Normandy during Mass. The assailants entered the church and took the celebrating priest and four others hostage. Local law enforcement reported that the priest’s throat was slit in the attack, and that both of the hostage takers were shot dead by police. One of the hostages has been critically wounded.

Pope Francis decried the “absurd violence” in a statement Tuesday, adding that he is praying for those affected by the tragedy.

The French bishops have designated Friday, July 29, as a day of fasting. Msgr. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, secretary general of the French Bishops Conference who's currently in Poland for World Youth Day, discussed the decision July 26.

“What happened in France had happened in other countries before, and actually we see Christians laying down their lives in the interests of their faith,” he told journalists in Krakow.

“They die because they are objects of hate and this for a fact gives us an additional motivation to live the life of fraternity we are called to.”

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