"I would like to say a big thank-you to the Polish Catholics and to the whole population that I felt gathering around me in an embrace full of human and spiritual warmth". This was said by the Pope, who, in today’s general audience attended by approximately 35 thousand people , wanted to go over the main stops of his apostolic journey in Poland, which ended last Sunday. "Many of us added the Holy Father off the cuff, greeted by an applause have seen on TV the real expression of the Catholicity of the Church which is expressed by the love for the Successor of Peter". The first stop he mentioned was Mass in the Warsaw Cathedral: "My pilgrimage said the Pope began in the sign of priesthood and then went on with a testimony of ecumenical care, rendered in the Lutheran Church of the Most Holy Trinity. On that occasion, I asserted my firm intention to consider the commitment to reinstate full and visible unity amidst Christians the true priority of my ministry". Then, as he mentioned Mass in Pilsudski square, the Pope received an applause (which was repeated every time he mentioned John Paul II) as he recalled the place that "has taken now a symbolic value, as it has hosted such epoch-making events as the Holy Masses celebrated by John Paul II and Mass for the funerals of the primate Stefan Wyszynski, as well as some very crowded celebrations for the repose of my predecessor a few days after his death". (to be continued)
