WORLD YOUTH DAY POLAND 2016 AUGUST 28, TWENTY SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR
IN 1979 WHEN POPE JOHN PAUL ASKED THE PEOPLE OF POLAND IF THEY ACCEPTED THEIR ROLE IN THE WORLD ALMOST A MILLION PEOPLE SHOUTED TOGETHER: “WE WANT GOD- WE WANT GOD- WE WANT GOD. THE PEOPLE HAD ENOUGH OF ATHEISTIC COMMUNISM. THEY WERE READY TO CHOOSE GOD OVER ATHEISM AND THE FORCES OF EVIL.
ONE MONTH AGO, THE POLISH PEOPLE ALONG WITH PEOPLE WHO CAME FROM 187 COUNTRIES WERE ABLE TO SHOW THE WORLD THAT THEY WANTED GOD IN THEIR LIVES. FROM JULY 25 TO JULY 31 CLOSE TO 3 MILLION PEOPLE ATTENDED THE WORLD YOUTH DAY IN POLAND. ONLY MANILA (1995) AND RIO DE JANEIRO (2013) DREW BIGGER CROWDS.
POPE FRANCIS SAID THAT THE POLES ARE A GOOD EXAMPLE OF FAITH AND COURAGE. THEY WERE ABLE TO RESIST THE TERROR OF THE NAZIS. THEY CONFRONTED AND OVERCAME SOVIET COMMUNISM. THEY HELPED TO BRING THE COLD WAR TO AN END.
WORLD YOUTH DAY WAS A SIGN THAT THE FORCES OF GOOD HAVE THE POWER TO OVERCOME THE FORCES OF EVIL. WORLD YOUTH DAY REINFORCED OUR CONVICTION THAT YOUNG PEOPLE STILL HUNGER FOR GOD.
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 GAVE EVIDENCE THAT THERE IS STILL HOPE FOR EUROPE. MANY BOOKS AND ARTICLES HAVE LAMENTED THE DRAMATIC DECLINE OF INSTITUTIONAL CHRISTIANITY IN CONTEMPORARY WESTERN EUROPE. HOWEVER, THE BATTLE IS STILL FAR FROM BEING LOST. THE TWO LARGEST NATIONAL GROUPS AT WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016, AFTER THE POLISH PILGRIMS, WERE THE ITALIANS AND THE FRENCH.
SECULARIZED FRANCE HAS POCKETS OF STRONG YOUNG CATHOLICS; MANY OF THEM ACTIVE IN NEW CHURCH MOVEMENTS. THE YOUNG FRENCH MEN AND WOMEN WERE WAVING FLAGS ACROSS KRAKOW. MANY PEOPLE ON THE STREETS WERE SINGING RELIGIOUS SONGS IN FRENCH.
HUNDREDS OF ITALIANS ACTIVE IN COMMUNIONE E LIBERAZIONE AND OTHER MOVEMENTS MADE THEIR PRESENCE KNOWN AT WORLD YOUTH DAY. 7,000 PORTUGUESE PILGRIMS REGISTERED FOR WYD 2016. MANY UKRAINIANS FORMERLY UNDER OPPRESSIVE SOVIET RULE WERE ABLE TO TRAVEL TO POLAND TO JOIN THE MILLIONS WHO CAME TO SHOW THAT THEY WANTED GOD IN THEIR LIVES.
ANOTHER STRIKING OBSERVATION ABOUT WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 IS THAT, 11 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II IS STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE IN THE HEARTS OF YOUNG CATHOLICS. IMAGES OF JOHN PAUL WERE OMNIPRESENT ON PILGRIMS’ T-SHIRTS.
JESUS TOLD ST. FAUSTINA THAT THE SPARK THAT WOULD PREPARE THE WORLD FOR HIS SECOND COMING WOULD COME FROM POLAND. THE ENDURING LEGACY OF POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II CONTINUES TO INSPIRE YOUNG CATHOLICS TO EMBRACE THEIR FAITH.
POPE FRANCIS IS NOT OF POLISH ORIGIN AS JOHN PAUL II. IN A SENSE HE WAS A FOREIGNER IN A DISTANT LAND. HOWEVER HIS HOMILY REVEALED THAT HE UNDERSTOOD POLAND. HE WAS THERE TO CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAITH IN POLAND. 1050 YEARS OF CHRISTIANITY IN POLAND WAS A WITNESS TO THE GOSPELS, THE CROSS, AND FIDELITY TO THE CHURCH UNIVERSAL.
BEAUTIFUL THINGS HAPPENED IN POLAND DURING WORLD YOUTH DAY. THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS WHO HAVE BEEN WITH THE WORLD YOUTH DAY FOR 25 YEARS, SPONSORED A SITE CALLED “THE MERCY CENTRE” LOCATED IN THE LARGEST ARENA IN KRAKOW.
AT THAT CENTRE, FOR THREE DAYS, THOUSANDS OF YOUNG AMERICAN CATHOLICS PARTICIPATED IN QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS WITH THREE CARDINALS: TIMOTHY DOLAN OF NEW YORK, SEAN O’MALLEY OF BOSTON AND CARDINAL LUIS TAGLE FROM THE PHILIPINES.
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 WAS AN ENORMOUS SUCCESS. AN ESTIMATED 500,000 PILGRIMS ATTENDED A MASS AT THE OPENING CEREMONY. ALMOST ONE MILLION PEOPLE PRAYED THE STATIONS OF THE CROSS ON FRIDAY. AT THE ALL NIGHT VIGIL WITH POPE FRANCIS ON SATURDAY, A MILLION AND A HALF PEOPLE GATHERED IN THE FIELD OF MERCY. IMAGINE THE SPECTACLE OF A MILLION CANDLES LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT!
ALL TOGETHER YOUTH DAY ATTRACTED OVER THREE MILLION PEOPLE FROM 187 COUNTRIES. THERE WERE 50 CARDINALS, 850 BISHOPS, 20,000 PRIESTS AND 30,000 NUNS.
THE POLISH GOVERNMENT DEPLOYED 38,000 POLICE AND TROOPS TO ENSURE ORDER. THEY EXPECTED A MILLION AND A HALF PEOPLE. WHAT A SURPRISE TO FIND THAT ALMOST 3 MILLION PEOPLE ATTENDED THE FINAL MASS.
PRIOR TO THE MASS BISHOPS AND PRIESTS WERE HEARING CONFESSIONS. BISHOP CUNNINGHAM WHO LED A LARGE NUMBER OF YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULTS TO WORLD YOUTH DAY TOLD ME THAT HE HEARD CONFESSIONS FOR FIVE HOURS.
ON SATURDAY MORNING POPE FRANCIS MET WITH THE COUNTRY’S BISHOPS, PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS AT THE ST. JOHN PAUL II SHRINE. HE SAID TO THE BISHOPS AND PRIEST: “BY SERVING THOSE WHO SUFFER WE HONOR THE FLESH OF CHRIST."
POPE FRANCIS ALSO VISITED THE DIVINE MERCY SANCTUARY, DEDICATED TO THE DEVOTION PROMOTED BY 20TH-CENTURY SAINT AND MYSTIC FAUSTINA KOWALSKA.
HIS MESSAGE WAS ALWAYS ONE OF MERCY. IN ONE OF HIS TALKS HE CALLED FOR MERCY FOR THE UNBORN: HE SAID: “LIFE MUST ALWAYS BE ACCEPTED AND PROTECTED FROM CONCEPTION TO NATURAL DEATH, AND WE ARE ALL CALLED TO RESPECT LIFE AND BE CONCERNED ABOUT IT.”
WORLD YOUTH DAY 2016 WAS NOT ONLY THE LARGEST GATHERING OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD; WORLD YOUTH DAY MADE IT CLEAR THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS A PEOPLE MADE UP OF AS MANY CULURES AS EXIST.
THE YOUNG PEOPLE FROM 187 COUNTRIES WERE A WITNESS THAT WITH CHRIST AS OUR FOCUS WE CAN LIVE TOGETHERWITH JOY DESPITE DIVERSITY. THERE WAS NOT ONE SIGNIFICANT INCIDENT OF VIOLENCE AT A WORLD EVENT THAT BROUGHT TOGETHER 3 MILLION PEOPLE FROM EVERY RACE AND CULTURE.
THERE WERE ALSO SOME WARM PERSONAL MOMENTS WITH POPE FRANCIS DURING THAT WEEK- LONG PILGIMAGE IN POLAND.
ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON, FRANCIS HAD A PRIVATE LUNCH WITH 12 YOUNG PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD. AT A PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING THE LUNCH ONE OF THE YOUNG WOMEN WHO TOOK PART DESCRIBED HOW THE POPE TOOK A SELFIE WITH THE GROUP AND ANSWERED QUESTIONS AS THEY ATE.
SHE SAID: AT THE END, HE HUGGED EACH OF US, SMILING, IN A VERY FRANCISCAN WAY. I FELT AN AMAZING INTERNAL PEACE TO MEET HIM SO CLOSELY.”
A YOUNG VIETNMESE BOY SAID THAT HE COULD BARELY CONTAIN HIS EMOTION AND DISBELIEF THAT HE WAS ACTUALLY AMONG THOSE CHOSEN TO DINE WITH THE POPE.
A POWERFUL AND SOMBER MOMENT IN THIS PILGRIMAGE OF POPE FRANCIS WAS HIS VISIT TO THE CONCENTRATION CAMP AT AUSHWITZ AND BIRKENAU WHERE OVER ONE MILLION JEWS WERE KILLED IN GAS CHAMBERS. THE POPE MET BRIEFLY WITH HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
HE MET ALSO WITH DOZENS OF PEOPLE WHO HOUSED JEWS OR RISKED THEIR LIVES TO PROTECT THEM FROM THE NAZIS.
THEY KNELT BEFORE THE POPE, AND MANY KISSED HIS HAND AS FRANCIS HANDED OUT LITTLE RED BOXES CONTAINING COMMEMORATIVE MEDALS OF HIS TRIP TO POLAND.
POPE FRANCIS ANNOUNCED THAT THE NEXT YOUTH DAY WILL BE IN PANAMA. HE SAID: “I DON’T KNOW IF I’M GOING TO BE IN PANAMA, BUT I CAN TELL YOU ONE THING: PETER WILL BE IN PANAMA.
AS CATHOLICS WE TREASURE THE LEADERSHIP AND THE GUIDANCE OF PETER. WHEN PETER GOES TO PANAMA HE WILL FIND YOUNG PEOPLE WHO ARE THE MOST GENUINE AND FORCEFUL RESPONSE TO TERRORISM. THEY ARE MEN AND WOMEN COMMITTED TO A WORLD OF PEACE AND JUSTICE BECAUSE THEYARE ALREADY MISSIONARIES AND DISCIPLES OF JESUS OF NAZARETH THE PRINCE OF PEACE.