Polish bishops tell Pope: ‘Poland is waiting’

This handout picture released by the Vatican press office on March 15, 2013 shows Pope Francis delivering a speech during a meeting of the world's cardinals.The new Pontiff urged the Catholic Church not to give in to "pessimism" and to find new ways of spreading the faith "to the ends of the earth": photo - EPA/OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Cardinals Kazimierz Nycz of Warsaw and Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow talked to the Pontiff during yesterday’s audience with the cardinals.

Cardinal Nycz told the Polish Press Agency (PAP that Polish bishops would like the Pope to visit Poland in 2015, the start of the celebrations marking the 1050th anniversary of Christianity on Polish lands.

“We have also asked the Pope to make Poland the venue of the next World Youth Days. The Pope received it with a warm and gentle smile,” Cardinal Nycz said.

The cardinal added that once a formal invitation is extended by the Conference of Polish Bishops and the state authorities, it will be possible to think seriously about a visit by Pope Francis to the homeland of Pope John Paul II.

Asked about how realistic is the prospect of organizing the 2015 World Youth Days in Poland, Cardinal Nycz said that no decision on the event’s venue has yet been taken.

“It will have to be taken in coming months as the venue of the Youth Days will be announced at the conclusion of this year’s event, in July in Rio de Janeiro,” he said.

Polish bishops would like the World Youth Days to be held in Kraków, where the Polish Pope lived and worked for many years before his historic election to papacy in October 1978. (mk/pg)