In spite of the cold and the rain, this morning at least 300,000 pilgrims took part in the Mass celebrated by Benedict XVI in Josef Pilsudski Square, in the heart of the capital of Poland. Starting and finishing his homily in Polish, Benedict XVI aroused the enthusiasm of the people, an enthusiasm which did not diminish, not even when the Pope interrupted the applause to continue his thinking. "In the square where John Paul II launched his appeal, in 1979: Let the Holy Spirit come down and renew the face of the Earth, of this land – says Mucin Lesniak, Polish correspondent of SIREurope – this morning, there was the same atmosphere as at that time: silence, meditation. This is the Genius loci, the greatness of Polish people". Among the people who received the Holy Communion from the hands of Benedict XVI, there was also the mother of Father Popieluszko, murdered in 1984 by the secret police of the Communist regime. (to be continued)
