Poland embraces Pope Francis
CZESTOCHOWA, Poland — Pope Francis blessed hundreds of thousands of faithful yesterday at a shrine in Poland, paying tribute to a beloved native son, St. John Paul II and honoring the countless “ordinary yet remarkable” Poles who defiantly clung to their faith during Soviet-bloc communism.
Francis, who had never set foot in Eastern Europe before this week’s five-day pilgrimage to Poland, gazed in apparent awe for several minutes as he studied the Jasna Gora monastery shrine’s iconic image of the so-called Black Madonna. The faces of Mary and Baby Jesus in the icon — an object of veneration starting in the 14th century — are blackened by centuries of varnish and candle soot.
Polish church officials said as many as 600,000 people flocked to the outdoor Mass at the monastery. In the evening, local church organizers in Krakow said another 500,000 faithful, young people from all around the world, cheered Francis at a pep rally on a meadow in the southern city.
During the pep rally, people sang and danced to lively tunes, waving flags from places as different as Tennessee and Turkey.
At the start of the Jasna Gora Mass, the 79-year-old pope tripped and fell as he walked to the altar, but he rose quickly with help from several priests and showed no ill effects.
“There were no consequences, the pope didn’t suffer, he didn’t hurt himself, there was no need for a medical checkup,” Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said.
The Mass marked this year’s 1,050th anniversary of Poland’s acceptance of the Roman Catholic faith. Polish President Andrzej Duda and other political leaders sat in front rows at the Mass.