Logo Polskiego Radia

Polish Radio backs drive to help rebuild Notre Dame

PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki 18.04.2019 11:50
Public broadcaster Polish Radio has launched a special website and backed a drive by the country’s church leaders to raise funds to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral after the landmark in Paris was ravaged by a fire.
Polish Radio CEO Andrzej Rogoyski (right) and Father Paweł Rytel-Adrianik (left), spokesman for the Polish Episcopal Conference, discuss an effort to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral.
Polish Radio CEO Andrzej Rogoyski (right) and Father Paweł Rytel-Adrianik (left), spokesman for the Polish Episcopal Conference, discuss an effort to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. Photo: Polskie Radio

A top Polish Roman Catholic churchman on Wednesday appealed for donations from Poles to help reconstruct the iconic cathedral in Paris after it was gutted by a blaze this week.

Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, head of the Polish Episcopal Conference, the central authority of the Catholic Church in Poland, said Notre Dame should be seen “not only as a symbol of the priceless cultural heritage of Europe, but also as a symbol of Christian values."

The Polish public radio broadcaster has endorsed Gądecki’s appeal.

Polish Radio CEO Andrzej Rogoyski said: “It is a beautiful appeal to all Poles, both religious people—for whom the destruction of the shrine in Paris is a double loss because it involves a place of worship—and those for whom Notre Dame Cathedral is something special in cultural terms.”

Rogoyski added: “For obvious reasons, Polish Radio had to join this campaign.”

The bells of all Polish cathedrals tolled on Wednesday evening at the exact time the blaze struck the 850-year-old Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris two days earlier.

Polish Radio broadcast a tribute from Warsaw’s St. John’s Cathedral.

On Monday the world watched in dismay as a massive fire ravaged the historic cathedral in the heart of Paris, one of the symbols of the French capital.

The Polish president said on Monday that the blaze was a tragedy for religious people and a disaster for world culture.

Poland’s prime minister has declared that his country is ready to help rebuild the centuries-old edifice.

Mateusz Morawiecki said: "This is our European, Christian heritage; these are the foundations of Europe."

Donations to a Notre Dame Cathedral reconstruction effort can be made to a bank account run by Caritas Polska, the Polish arm of the international Catholic charity organisation: 77 1160 2202 0000 0000 3436 4384 mentioning “ODBUDOWA” (Polish for “reconstruction”), or by texting from cell phones to 72052 with the message “ODBUDOWA” (cost PLN 2.46 including VAT).

More information is available at Polish Radio’s special online service: www.notredame.polskieradio24.pl

(gs/pk)

Source: Polish Radio

Print
Copyright © Polskie Radio S.A About Us Contact Us