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“No choice” over Catholic World Youth Day in Krakow?

PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp 10.09.2013 11:01
Poland’s new ambassador to the Holy See, Piotr Nowina-Konopka, has said that Pope Francis joked about not having a stake in the decision to hold the World Youth Day in Poland’s southern city of Krakow in 2016.

Pope
Pope Francis meets the new Polish Ambassador to the Holy See, Piotr Nowina-Konopka during a private audience in Vatican, 09 September 2013. Photo: PAP/EPA/OSSERVATORE ROMANO

Nowina-Konopka was granted a 20-minute audience with the Pope during a ceremony presenting his credentials after he officially took up the post on 5 September.

Speaking following the encounter, Nowina-Konopka said that Pope Francis was “pressured” into holding the Youth Days in Poland by Polish cardinals Stanislaw Rylko and Stanislaw Dziwisz, who was Pope John Paul II’s personal secretary.

Poland’s ambassador to the Holy See told journalists that there were no talks on the date of the canonisation – which will see John Paul II become a saint – as the official announcement of the date is expected to be made by the Vatican on 30 September.

Meanwhile, Nowina-Konopka told Polish Radio that he is certain that Pope Francis’ efforts to qualm tensions in Syria will be fruitful.

“I was amazed at his determination while speaking about Syria,” Nowina-Konopka said, relaying what he had heard the previous Sunday on St. Peter’s Square.

“This pope has made it a point of honour to do something about [the conflict in Syria], and I think that he has such inner determination that something must come out of it,” Nowina-Konopka said. (jb)

Source: IAR/PAP

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