"How dear John Paul II held the Church that is in Poland! How many times he voiced this feeling of his!". In the second part of the TV message broadcasted last night by the Polish TV, the Pope lingered on the special relationship that bonded his predecessor to his homeland: "He loved it revealed Benedict XVI as a mother that had given him life in faith and had raised him in the love of Christ and of his brothers. But he also loved it as a community unfailingly joined around the Shepherds, exposed in the past to the sufferings of several persecutions, but always faithful to the evangelical values. How much he prayed and how much he strove for Poland to be free again! And, when this happened, he never stopped to do all he could so that his fellow countrymen could learn to live the freedom of the children of God, not that of the children of this world, and so that they might retain their faith". "Aware of this legacy that he left to the Church that is in Poland added the Holy Father this year I have come among you with the Pauline warning: Remain strong in faith. On this occasion, I want to thank you once again for the testimony of lively faith that you gave in those strong times of the Spirit and that cheered up my heart. I pray God that he may preserve faith for the future generations of that noble land".
