Final farewell for Polish bishop Tadeusz Pieronek
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
03.01.2019 20:00
Family, friends, church officials and politicians on Thursday bade a final farewell to Polish bishop Tadeusz Pieronek, who died last month at the age of 84.
Photo: PAP/Jacek Bednarczyk
A professor of canon law and a significant religious figure, Pieronek was laid to rest in the southern historic city of Kraków, where he passed away in his home on the evening of December 27.
The city’s centuries-old Sigismund Bell—which rings only on special occasions and is one of Poland's national symbols—tolled in tribute as crowds of mourners paid their last respects.
Senior church officials and politicians from across the spectrum attended the funeral ceremonies, which were spread over two days.
Pieronek’s coffin was placed in the Crypt of the Bishops at the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Kraków’s Old Town district on Thursday evening.
Pieronek was secretary-general of the Polish Episcopal Conference, the central authority of the Catholic Church in Poland, from 1993 to 1998.
He served as rector of the Papal Academy of Theology in Kraków from 1998 to 2004 and helped negotiate Poland’s Concordat agreement with the Vatican in the 1990s.
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Source: IAR, TVN, TVP