Jan Pawel II w Polsce
SBobrow940
By BEATA PASEK
.c The Associated Press
LICHEN, Poland (June 7) - Pope John Paul II consecrated Poland's largest church
today, telling more than 200,000 faithful who braved a steady rain that the
towering sanctuary expressed ''faith and love'' for the Virgin Mary and Jesus
Christ.
The new cathedral in the northern farming community of Lichen, modeled after
St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, is the seventh largest in Europe and
towers over the rolling countryside. It is being constructed at an estimated
cost of $50 million, all coming from donations, to honor the church's 2,000
years of Christianity next year.
Building it has provided 400 jobs in the region hit by widespread unemployment
under Poland's economic transition from communism to a free market system.
Still under construction, the cathedral is longer than a soccer field and 300
feet tall, the height of a 30-story building, with arched windows and
light-colored brick adorned by golden Latin inscriptions.
Not all Poles agreed on the need for the massive new cathedral.
''They should have given the money for something else,'' said Itka Kozlowska,
25, a housewife who spent the night in a sleeping bag for a good spot at
today's ceremony. ''We can honor God with prayer well enough.''
But another Pole, Blazej Basinski, loved the church.
''There is unusual power in it, something very attractive, captivating. It's
extremely beautiful,'' he said. ''The church helps others. This money is well
spent.''
A goal of John Paul's 13-day pilgrimage to his homeland, the longest trip to
any single country of his papacy, is to fortify the church's influence in
Poland a decade after communist rule ended.
''I look with awe at this huge building which, in the richness of its
architecture, is an expression of faith and love for Holy Mary and for Her
Son,'' John Paul said, speaking from a golden throne beneath a canopy to
protect him from the rain.
He encouraged listeners to keep their faith despite hardships, praying for
''faith that is not afraid of any difficulties or suffering or failure because
it is based on a conviction that 'for God nothing is impossible.'''
His voice was strong today as he spoke and led songs of prayer, then offered
the sanctuary a golden rosary with pearls.
John Paul was to celebrate Mass later today in Bydgoszcz, then meet with
rectors and students at Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun. Today was the
birthday of the 16th century Polish astronomer, who is credited for the
then-revolutionary theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the
universe.
Visibly weakened by health problems in recent years, John Paul's left hand
trembles visibly, leading to speculation he suffers from Parkinson's disease.
The 79-year-old pope's eighth visit to his homeland has so far mostly avoided
political themes. On Sunday, John Paul praised Polish martyrs - a missionary
slain a thousand years ago and priests killed by the Nazis - as examples for
today's generation.
Later, he flew to the town of Elblag to offer a prayer to a crowd of 250,000,
including 700 faithful from Russia's Kaliningrad region led by Moscow
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz. John Paul will meet with Catholics and
Orthodox Christians from eastern Europe throughout his trip, with the goal of
strengthening spirituality in former communist regions.
''We are all dreaming of the day when the pope can come to Russia and set foot
in Red Square and St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad,'' Kondrusiewicz said.
The pilgrimage that began Saturday in Gdansk is part nostalgic and part
purposeful for John Paul, who seeks to halt a recent slide in the influence of
his church.
While the church's influence has waned in Poland over the past decade,
especially among young people focused on carving out careers in the new
free-market system, John Paul is having no trouble drawing huge crowds of young
and old.
He has addressed well over 1 million people so far, with millions more watching
each event live on national television.
AP-NY-06-07-99 0529EDT
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news
report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed
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Jerzy Pawlowski
<sbobr...@aol.com> wrote:
> Pope Consecrates Polish Cathedral
>
> By BEATA PASEK
> .c The Associated Press
>
> LICHEN, Poland (June 7) - Pope John Paul II consecrated Poland's
> largest church today, telling more than 200,000 faithful who braved
> a steady rain that the towering sanctuary expressed ''faith and
> love'' for the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ.
> [...]
> Not all Poles agreed on the need for the massive new cathedral.
>
> ''They should have given the money for something else,'' said Itka
> Kozlowska, 25, a housewife who spent the night in a sleeping bag for
> a good spot at today's ceremony. ''We can honor God with prayer well
> enough.''
Ta Itzka ma dobrze pojebane w glowie.
Nie pomyslala o tym ze biedni zawsze byli i beda.
Gdyby kierowac sie jej logika to na przestrzeni wiekow
ludzie by tylko w kuckach medytowali, i nigdzie nie
powstalyby zadne swiatynie. Religia == Cywilizacja.
--
"Imbéciles réveillez vous!"
Jerzy Pawlowski (j...@panix.com)