THE POPE’S TUMBLE
Thousands gather in Krakow for Mass Pope urges Poles to stay united over refugee issue Thanks them for holding on to their faith
Pope Francis fell over during Mass in front of a television audience of millions while visiting Poland’s holiest site.
The 79-year-old Pontiff stumbled at the altar and had to be helped to his feet as he celebrated a Mass at the Jasna Gora Monastery in the southern city of Czestochowa.
He tumbled to the floor next to steps leading to the open air altar and being helped to his feet by Vatican Master of Ceremonies, Guido Marini. He was uninjured and finished the event, which was aired to a television audience of millions.
Pope Francis, walking in his long robe with an incense holder in his hand, did not notice a step down from the platform and fell to the ground before the altar. He braced his fall with his left hand and priests around him rushed to help.
Asked if Pope Francis had suffered any ill effects from the fall, a Vatican spokesman, Greg Burke, said ‘the Pope is fine.’
Czestochowa Archbishop Waclaw Depo said Pope Francis fell because he had closed his eyes and appeared to miss a step.
“He is in good condition. He did not even complain at all. He never said a word,” Depo said. “Also the homily showed that the Pope has strength and this strength he gets from the people.’
Pope Francis enjoys relatively good health, despite putting in long days of ceremonies, audiences and meetings. In his youth, he had a section of one lung removed.
A few times in the past, Pope Francis has missed a step or even fallen on stairs. Each time he has got up on his own or thanks to an aide lending a hand, then carried on without missing a beat for the rest of the long ceremonies.
The Pope was at the monastery, home to an ancient Catholic icon believed to work miracles, ahead of a trip by tram to meet young pilgrims from around the world.
Outdoors, the Argentine said Mass for a congregation numbering in the tens of thousands, thanking Poles for holding on to their faith in difficult times.
He also praised native son St John Paul II as a ‘meek and powerful’ herald of mercy as well as countless ‘ordinary yet remarkable people’ who held firm to their Catholic faith throughout adversity in the former Communist-ruled nation.
The Pontiff, in Krakow to headline an international Catholic youth extravaganza, travelled to the southern city to pray before the legendary Black Madonna.
Security was tight at the hill-top shrine following a series of attacks in Europe, with a highly visible police and army presence on the roads leading into the city, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were gathered.
Pope Francis hopped in an open-topped pope mobile for a tour through the cheering crowds.
“We slept so little, but it’s worth it, what an atmosphere!’ said pilgrim Kate Tor, whose young sons were among the thousands of children who had camped out on the sweeping avenue leading to the monastery.
Teenagers still wrapped in sleeping bags, elderly couples perched on folding chairs outside tents and families with Pope Francis-themed balloons were serenaded by the Argentine pope’s favourite tango music before his arrival.
Ambulances and fire-engines were on standby with Polish officials taking no chances with security following the jihadist murder of a priest in a French church on the eve of the five-day trip to celebrate the 2016 World Youth Day.
Arriving on Wednesday, the Argentine said the world was at war but argued that religion was not the cause, insisting the way for people to ‘overcome fear’ was to provide asylum to those fleeing war and persecution.
He led a mass to mark the 1050th anniversary of Poland’s Catholic faith at the monastery.
The Black Madonna has been venerated since 1711, when the bubonic plague decimated Warsaw’s population but stopped dead when it reached the Jasna Gora monastery in the south of the country.
Since then the figure, which legend has it was painted by Saint Luke the apostle, has been hailed as miraculous.
Two scars on the Madonna’s face were reportedly inflicted during an attempted robbery in 1430, with the petrified thieves turning tail and fleeing when blood poured from the torn painting.
Pope Francis was due to return to Krakow after the Mass, where he will be presented with the keys to the city by the mayor, before jumping on to a tram which will whisk him to the sprawling Blonia meadow for his first big WYD event.
Some 15 disabled youngsters and their families will take the tram with the pontiff to the welcome ceremony, where hundreds of thousands of people will have spent the day being entertained by singers and dancers.
The pontiff had called for a minute’s silence on Wednesday evening for a Polish volunteer, Maciej Szymon Cieslam, who was to have travelled with him on the tram, but had died at the start of the month after a battle with cancer.
At his first evening appearance at the window of the archbishop’s palace in Krakow, he told the thousands of youngsters gathered below that Ciesla was getting ready to party with them at the WYD in spirit.
“Now go and do your duty, make noise all night long!’ he finished with a grin.
Pope Francis urged today’s Poles to stay united even as their nation is divided over the issue of refugees and migrants, especially those who aren’t Christians. He prayed that Poles would have “the desire to leave behind all past wrongs and wounds, and to build fellowship for all, without ever yielding to the temptation to withdraw or to domineer.”
A right-wing government came to power in Poland last year that has faced international scrutiny for eroding past democratic gains, and critics say they have seen a rise in xenophobic sentiment.