Bishops’ Conference
The Eucharistic celebration for the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ pontificate will be the culminating moment of the 378th plenary meeting of the Polish Bishops on 13-14 March. The Liturgy, which will be held in Warsaw in the afternoon of Tuesday, 13 March, will be presided over by the Papal Nuncio Mgr. Salvatore Pennacchio. For the first time it will be celebrated at the monumental temple of the Divine Providence, built 200 years after the initial project, as an expression of thanksgiving by the Polish nation for regaining independence. The 100th anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s sovereignty (1918) will also be the focus of the first day of the plenary, during which the prelates will discuss the role of the Church in the restoration of independence. “As is tradition, Bishops from other countries will participate as guests in the spring plenary meeting”, the secretary of the Polish Bishops, Mgr. Artur Mizinski, explained, adding that this time the prelates of Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Latvia will present their accounts of the restoration of national sovereignty following the end of the Great War (1914-1918). Representatives of the Bishops’ Conferences of Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Moldova and of the Scandinavian Church have been invited to Warsaw. Another important topic for discussion at the plenary session, which will end in the early afternoon of Wednesday 14 March, will be youth ministry in view of the forthcoming Synod and of WYD in Panama.
