Reflections After Mass in Wadowice

Before the celebrations in Czestochowa, the Holy Father went to his hometown of Wadowice, where he celebrated Mass, consecrating the new parish church named in honor of St. Peter. At the end of the Mass in Wadowice, the Pope added the following brief remarks:

…Nor can I forget that among our classmates in the school of Wadowice and in its high school there were those who belonged to the Mosaic religion; they are no longer with us, just as there is no longer the old synagogue next to the high school. When a stone was found in the place where the synagogue used to be, I sent a special letter through one of our classmates. In it we find the following words: "The Church, and in her all peoples and nations, are united with you. Certainly first of all your people feel your suffering, your destruction -- here we recall how close it is to Auschwitz -- when they want to speak to the individuals and people, and to all of mankind, to admonish them. In your name this warning cry is also raised by the Pope, and the Pope who comes from Poland has a special reason for this because, in a certain way, he experienced all this with you in our homeland…."

August 14, 1991

Next: Reflections on the Fiftieth Anniversary
of the Uprising of the Warsaw Ghetto