Polish Consulate...

Warsaw, April 27: President Aleksander Kwasniewski Tuesday signed into law an act reforming Poland's public health service in spite of his right to a 21-day respite on the decision. Presidential spokesmen said the haste was dictated by the act's urgency. "In light of this act's importance for the health service (...) the president has resigned his right to a 21-day respite period and has signed it earlier", presidential press officials informed PAP.Under the new law public hospitals will receive government loans to cover overdue wage hikes guaranteed by a special act and debts to suppliers. They will not be transformable into public utility units, as foreseen in a presidential health reform project.Health minister Marek Balicki said today that he was "happy" the president had not waited with the move. It's a good thing we have the law. This will enable public aid for (...) hospitals and help stop the wave of seizures, Balicki said.

Warsaw, April 27: Only 46 percent of Poles were satisfied in April with Aleksander Kwasniewski as the president of Poland which was the worst result scored by Kwasniewski since the beginning of his presidency 10 years ago, writes CBOS polling centre. Eleven percent positively assessed the Sejm (up 3 percentage points) but 77 percent of the polled (7 percentage points less than in March) were still dissatisfied. The Senate's rating was better than the Sejm's just because people in general know less about the work of senators, CBOS wrote without providing details.

Warsaw, April 27: The assessment of the Polish administration, local government and businessmen is very good but the coming year will be more difficult, said PM Marek Belka at a press conference summing up Poland's year-long membership of the EU. "In 2006 more EU money will be transferred to Poland and efforts will have to be made to allocate it wisely," he added. According to the PM during the coming 12 months Poland should fight to dispel myths about its citizens posing a threat to the EU labour market. The PM underlined that the balance of the 1st year of membership is favourable for Poland. Minister for European Affairs Jaroslaw Pietras stressed that integration was a huge logistic undertaking, fortunately successful even in such fields as direct subsidies for farmers. Prior to the press conference Pietras presented a report commissioned by the Office of the Committee for European Integration (UKIE) on experience on the 1st year of Poland's membership of the EU. Pietras stressed. After a year in the EU, Poland is a net beneficiary. The country received from the EU budget 1 billion 554 million euros more than it had contributed. The pace of growth of exports to "old" EU members grew by 60 per cent after May 1. Direct foreign investments in 2004 reached 7.86 billion USD, up 23 per cent on the previous year. The general balance is positive, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski said summing up Poland's first year in the EU. Saryusz-Wolski, vice-president of the European Parliament, said that "from the economic point of view none of the negative predictions have materialised." However, he did confirm that Poland experienced a slight post-accession shock in form of price adjustments which contributed to short-lived, according to him, inflation rise. also higher than expected price growth.

Warsaw, April 27: Lotos Group will be floated at the Warsaw Stock Exchange WSE before PGNiG and the refinery public trading is likely in May, Treasury Minister Jacek Socha told PAP on Wednesday. Socha counts on the Stock Exchanges and Securities Committee (KPWiG) to admit shares in Grupa Lotos to public trading which would pave the way for floating the Gdansk-based petroleum company in May. The value of Lotos Group offer is estimated at 900 mn zlotys (28.2 million USD). Socha predicts that PGNiG will be admitted to public trading at a KPWiG meeting on May 18. He said that KPWiG subcommittee will deal with amendments to the PGNiG issue prospectus still this Friday. PGNiG submitted its prospectus to KPWIG at the end of March. The company plans to make a debut on the WSE in June. The value of PGNiG issue is estimated at 1.5 billion zlotys.

Warsaw, April 27: At 81 percent, Polish support of NATO membership in a recent CBOS survey was highest among the Visegrad states. 79 percent backed Poland's EU accession.Sister surveys in the other Visegrad countries the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary showed respectively 61, 55 and 68 percent in favour of NATO. The biggest EU supporters were the Slovaks (83 percent), followed by the Poles (79 percent), Hungarians (73

percent) and Czechs (70 percent). 22 percent of Poles wanted to work in other EU countries. Most eager to work abroad were the Slovaks (28 percent). CBOS ran the survey on March 4-7 on a random group of 1,052 adult Poles in cooperation with Czech, Slovak and Hungarian polling centres.

Warsaw, April 27: Polish food exporters to non-EU countries have received 225 million zlotys (7.7 million USD) in export refunds from the Agriculture Market Agency (ARR) since May 1, 2004.ARR deputy head Krzysztof Salwach said Union subsidies are a significant support for exporters improving the profitability of their operations.The biggest sums have been paid out for the export of sugar, milk and dairy products, meat, processed goods, poultry, fruit and vegetables.

Warsaw, April 27: Extraditions of Poles to other countries under European Arrest Warrants (EAW) are unconstitutional, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled Wednesday. The Polish constitution forbids extraditions of Poles to other countries. The tribunal also informed that EAW rulings would be waived from the Polish criminal code within 18 months. The 2004-introduced European Arrest Warrant has replaced all previous EU extradition rulings.

Warsaw, April 27: Last year 6,000 Polish students enrolled in foreign universities under the popular Socrates Erasmus scholarship scheme, also more and more foreigners are coming to study in Poland, informed Boguslaw Szymanski from the Office for Academic Endorsement and International Exchange. Over 1,800 graduate and post-graduate students took government

scholarships, 300 more than in the previous year.According to Warsaw University officials EU accession raised scholarship funding in Poland and made Poland more attractive for foreign students.

Warsaw, April 27: Products of over 130 Belorussian producers are on show at the first National Exhibition opened in Warsaw Wednesday. The exhibition will run till April 30 and is expected to help boosting Polish-Belarussian economic cooperation. Ambassador of Belarus to Poland Pavel Latushka told journalists that this is the biggest exhibition of this kind outside Belarus and one of the most important events for the Belarussian economy in recent years. Presented are Belarussian furniture, clothes, foodstuffs, architecture, tourist offers, and other products. The aim is to demonstrate economic potential of Belarus and encourage Poland to cooperate with Belarussian firms. According to the ambassador tourism may be an attractive field for contacts. Belarus sees the need to open new border crossings such as the recently opened Bialowieza-Pererov border pass at Bialowieza Forest. Polish-Belarussian economic contracts are expected to be signed during the exhibition, for example on deliveries of Polish steel to Belarus. Ambassador Latushka said politics should not interfere with economic cooperation and encouraged Polish diplomats to show, like ambassadors of Russia or Turkestan, sympathy to Belarus.

Warsaw, April 27: City councillors of the Citizens' Platform PO will vote against approving the financial results for 2004 achieved by Warsaw President Lech Kaczynski (Law and Justice PiS), said Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, the head of Mazowsze PO branch on Wednesday. The Citizens' Platform PO is jealous of our good results in the polls, Warsaw President and one of Law and Justice PiS leaders Lech Kaczynski told Zycie Warszawy daily while commenting on the PO's appeal for a no-confidence vote in him. The PO decided not to support Kaczynski during a vote of approval of financial results for 2004 despite the fact that the two parties are likely to form a future coalition government. Lech Kaczynski terms as untrue accusations brought against him by Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz, head of Warsaw's PO branch. The charges concern mainly a growth of spending on administration, the lack of spatial development plans that hampers houses construction, a small number of constructed municipal flats and the falling number of municipal investments. "This is not a personal attack, this is our protest against Warsaw being strictly centrally managed. We have quite a different vision of managing the city," Gronkiewicz-Waltz told Radio Three. According to her the vote can be perceived as a "yellow card" for Kaczynski because he failed to fully use the EU funds and the number of new investments was 50 percent lower than between 2000 and 2002.

Warsaw, April 27: The rightwing Patriotic Movement believes Poland's right, especially Law and Justice (PiS) and the League of Polish Families (LPR), should put up a joint list for the parliamentary elections. Patriotic Movement and Catholic-National Movement (RKN) leader

Antoni Macierewicz said. Failure to field a rightwing list "seriously threatened with the continuation of the present political alignment". Macierewicz stressed that the Patriotic Movement's main objective was fighting unemployment and denied the group's patronage by the ultra-Catholic Radio Maryja broadcaster.

Warsaw, April 27: The Monetary Policy Council (RPP) commenting its Tuesday's decision on cutting interest rates, said that it assess that inflation, starting from the 3rd quarter of 2005, may stay below the inflation target for a period of several quarters. The RPP in its communique added that in a longer perspective it sees a risk of building inflation pressure linked with the revision of oil prices forecast. The council wrote that the risk balance for future inflation is shaping more favourably than it has been presented in the February inflation projection. Central bank governor Leszek Balcerowicz addressing a press conference on Tuesday afternoon did not exclude a transitional deflation in respective months, but without influence on the monetary policy. Marian Noga of the RPP said the council estimates 2005 inflation to reach 2.5 per cent and will stay below 2.5 per cent by the end of 2007.

Warsaw, April 27: In March Poles willingly invested via investment funds. New payments exceeded write-offs by 1.4 billion zlotys (437.5 mn USD) which is twice as much as in February. It was also the 2nd best result since July 2003, indicate Analizy Online.The company data show that in the 1st quarter of 2005 customers "brought" more than 2.3 billion zlotys to national investment funds. The value of bank deposits rose by 2.6 percent and the surplus of new retail bonds' sales over the previous issues totalled 760 mn zlotys. "This gives us a total of some 8 billion zlotys in savings which Poles wanted to invest in the 1st quarter," the company's statement reads.

Cracow, April 27: Low-rate Centralwings airlines belonging to PLL LOT will launch a new Cracow-Rome connection on Saturday, April 30. Centralwings planes will fly on the route three times a week, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Centralwings CEO P. Kociolek said that the new connection is the 2nd one opened by the carrier from Cracow's Balice airport after Cracow-London air connection that have been launched a few months ago. The carrier is satisfied with the number of passengers the route serviced six times a week.

Warsaw, April 27: Mittal Steel, which has the exclusive negotiation rights for the purchase of Huta Czestochowa steel works, offered 1.251 billion zlotys (390.9 million USD) whereas the Ukrainian Donbas industrial union proposed 1.108 billion zlotys, Treasury Minister Jacek Socha said Wednesday. "That is why we picked up Mittal Steel for negotiations," Socha

told PAP.April 29 is the deadline for the exclusive negotiation rights and the concern has so far failed to reach an agreement with trade unions on a welfare package. However, the concern representatives say the agreement is not vital for concluding the deal.

Warsaw, April 28: Fuels' sales at Orlen gas stations have drastically fallen down since the start of the year, writes Parkiet daily. According to the paper customers prefer to buy fuels at foreign gas stations networks or unaffiliated stations. Experts unanimously say that fuels from Plock are too expensive. Spokesman for the company Dawid Piekarz did not want to comment on the information. Parkiet has found however an e-mail sent by Orlen's director for logistics confirming sales' fall by 12 percent and more since the start of the year which poses a threat that the stations may fail to get rid of winter fuel by May 1. Thus, the director has asked for "an analysis of the level of prices or urgent consideration of a system of promotion so as to avoid reservations of the State Commercial Inspection."

Konin, April 27: Polish western city of Konin is to receive 42 million euros from EU funds for the construction of a second bridge on Warta river and for the modernization, in city

boundaries, of the Konin-Gorzow Wielkopolski national road. The total cost of the two investments is estimated to reach some 200 million zlotys (47.6 million euros). 75 per cent of that sum will come from the European Regional Development Fund.First construction works should start in the second half of the year and be concluded in 2007.

Rome/Gdańsk, April 27: Pope Benedict XVI greeted Polish faithful participating in the general audience in Polish. Addressing the Poles Benedict XVI said: "I am greeting the pilgrims of the Polish language. I would like to thank you for your goodness and prayers. I bless you from all my heart." Earlier the Pope greeted the faithful in Italian, French, English, German and Spanish. Polish pilgrims were presented to the pontiff in Polish by Father Pawel Ptasznik who later read out the translation of the pope's teaching, as he used to do it during the pontificate of John Paul II. The Polish language remained one of the main languages of general audiences. - Former president Lech Walesa, Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz, Solidarity union leader Janusz Sniadek and head of the Pomorskie province assembly Jan Kozłowski addressed an invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to pay visit to Gdansk.Gdansk mayor press spokesman Maciej Turnowiecki said Wednesday the related letter was conveyed to the papal nuncio in Poland, Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk. The authors of the letter recalled that the Second World War started in Gdansk's Westerplatte peninsula on September 1, 1939.

Warsaw, April 27: As many as 94 percent of Poles watched the funeral of John Paul II on tv, according to a poll run by OBOP and sent to PAP Tuesday. Nearly a half of those questioned (47 percent) think that people will become better after the pope's death and every fourth believes that public life in Poland will improve. Ninety-three percent of Poles watched the funeral on tv at home as many firms made that day free.

Warsawa, April 27: Dominican priest Konrad Hejmo was a secret police agent who informed on recently deceased pope John Paul II in his days as Karol Wojtyla, National Remembrance Institute (IPN) head Leon Kieres disclosed on Wednesday. Kieres said IPN possessed a 700-page dossier on Hejmo. Hejmo's superior, Dominican provincial Maciej Zieba, said he had seen the files, which he described as, "shocking and convincing". Kieres said the file dossier on Hejmo would be made public in May. Hejmo, 69, for years co-organiser of Polish pilgrimages to the Vatican and head of the Corda Cordi Polish pilgrim hostel in Rome, entered the Dominican Order in 1959.

Warsaw, April 27: "Symmetry," a movie by Konrad Niewolski, won two awards at the RiverRun International Film Festival in the U.S., Anna Hoodle representing SPI Polska company said Wednesday. Jury prized Konrad Niewolski the Best Director and Arkadiusz

Detmer the Best Actor in a Feature Film. "Symmetry" tells a story of 26-year old Lukasz, who, charged with an assault against an old lady, is sentenced for a prison term and has to adjust to the tough world. In 2003 Symmetry" won the Journalists Award at the Gdynia Film Festival."

posted by: Oborski at 19:27 | link | comments |

The Battle of Britain...

Letter from Poland...
By Peter Gentle of Radio Polonia

It’s one year since Poland entered the EU. But the only countries where Poles could look for work without any restrictions at all were the UK and Ireland. So how have Polish job seekers got on?

One of the most successful reality-type TV shows in Poland since last May has been the intriguingly titled: Battle of Britain. The programme followed the fortunes of several young Poles who had taken the opportunity after Poland joined the EU to leave home and see if they could make a living in the UK.

Most said that they had encountered little discrimination there, and had found work in bars, restaurants, clubs or as au pairs. Many of them then lost jobs in bars, restaurants, clubs and as au pairs, only to later find other jobs in similar places.

Many of my friends in London have noticed an increase in the number of Poles living there. In fact, Londoners seem to be of the impression that all the new young workers in the pubs of London are in fact Polish. And they are half right. Fifty percent of workers who have entered Britain since the EU’s expansion have come from Poland. This is not surprising as out of the 80 million people who entered the European Union last year, 40 million of them were Poles.

So, whereas many of the bars and pubs of London used to be staffed by people from Sidney, Melbourne or Brisbane, they are now coming from Warsaw, Krakow or Gdansk.

Poles in London are the new Australians.

But Poles have also been filing posts in the professions too – most notably in dentistry. Around 200 Polish dentists, for example, are now working in the English counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, drilling and filing in British teeth for 50,000 pounds a year (that’s around 100,00 dollars). Which a large jump in salary. In Poland they get about a fifth of that amount.

And if George Orwell’s famous observation about English teeth is still correct, then they’ve got their work cut out.

The title of the Polish reality TV show I mentioned earlier, Battle of Britain, seems a strange choice. But what it is referring to is the fact that the last time a small wave of Poles hit the British coast was during the Second World War, when many of the finest pilots flying the spitfires and hurricanes in the RAF were Polish.

As newspaper reports at the time show, these dashing young Polish pilots were treated by British women as rock stars would be today.

But this positive attitude changed in the latter half of the war. The newspapers started to print negative stories about the Poles. This was mainly due to the fact that the British government was spending a lot of its energy trying to placate Stalin, who didn’t like the Polish government-in-exile in London.

But will the same happen this time? Will Brits tire of their new Polish friends?

There have been a few disturbing reports coming from loyalist, protestant areas in Northern Ireland. For instance, a group of Poles who had arrived over the Christmas period to work in a livestock stock factory in the Bushmills area of County Antrim were forced out of the area after receiving threatening phone calls from males claiming to be from loyalist groups.

And there have been other reports of attacks on Poles in these sorts of areas.

Some commentators have been trying to link these incidents with religious antagonisms between Catholics and Protestants.

But I think there is just a general breakdown in law and order in places like North Antrim. This is where some of my family are from. During the nineteen seventies and eighties – and if you exclude sectarian violence - crime was very low in places like Bushmills and other parts of NI. Working class communities basically policed themselves. If you got out of line then you could expect a visit from ‘the boys.’

But, ironically, since the Good Friday peace agreement was signed in the 1990’s, crime has risen in all areas of Northern Ireland. The tiny Muslim and Chinese populations there – around 10,000 at most, and who have lived there in peace for many years, have begun to experience attacks.

And violent crime against the indigenous population, along with housebreak-ins, and other sorts of crime, has risen as well.

So I don’t think that these attacks against Poles in Northern Ireland has anything to do with them being Polish or even being catholic. I just think they are in the right place at the wrong time.

There has also been a few strange articles in the British press about Poles. Since newspapers have found it hard to compete with the immediacy of the internet, radio and 24-hour TV news, they have all but given up writing news stories and filled more and more of their pages with opinion pieces.

One very highly paid columnist in the Times (London), Julie Burchill, wrote an article last year called, ‘Poles and Proles’. In it she stated that bringing in tens of thousands of eastern European workers to Britain, “robs those countries they leave of the young and the strong, and it robs [the working class] in the countries they go to of any pride they once had…” What chance have the British working class got, she goes on, “if east Europeans are willing to work for peanuts?”

She concludes by wondering if the only winners in this are rightwing neo-fascists like the British National Party.

Now, for a long time I have wondered if highly paid columnists like Julie Burchill are either being deliberately provocative, or are simply barking mad. I think probably the latter.

Anyway, over half the Poles that went to Britain last year have already come back. They probably got fed up with Britain’s public transport system. But the ones who have remained like it there and like the people.

Except that is for a few wackos in Bushmills, Antrim and Julie Burchill in the Times.

posted by: Oborski at 17:54 | link | comments |

The centre-right Law and Justice Party has shot to the top of popularity polls ahead of Poland's parliamentary elections later this year, outdistancing the liberal Civic Platform, which had been the favourite of Polish voters so far. Krystyna Kolosowska analyses the latest trends.

According to the latest survey conducted by IPSOS pollsters the Law and Justice party enjoys the support of 20 percent of the electorate, with the Civic Platform breathing on its back with just one percent behind.

This is the second poll conducted in April which indicates the leading position of the centre right Law and Justice. Two weeks ago it fared even better with 24 percent backing in a poll of the Public Opinion Research Center, four percent better than its main rival.

The party’s leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski says that it will strive to consolidate its position. He attributes its success among other things to a campaign launched to promote the candidacy of his brother Lech Kaczynski for president. The campaign was suspended as premature after a verdict of the state electoral committee.

'A large part of the nation must have realized that our campaign was halted by illegal methods and that we are a party which is striving to introduce genuine changes.'

Presently, Lech Kaczynski is the leading presidential candidate, again proving that the Law and Justice Party responds to many public expectations. This is one of the reasons, why it shot up in popularity polls, says political analyst Krzysztof Mularczyk

The Law and Justice Party and the Civic Platform do not differ very much on issues such as law and order or on social issues, but there is a huge difference in their approach to the economy and the social legislation, which will make a future coalition between them quite difficult.

The Law and Justice Party is skeptical about radical reforms such as liberalization of the labor law or the introduction of the flat tax rate, which the liberal Civic Platform is pushing. The rising popularity of the former tells a lot about the attitudes of Poles. Analyst Krzysztof Mularczyk thinks that Polish voters may be too scared of reforms.

The third most popular party is the populist Farmer’s Self Defense, with 11 percent backing. The ruling Democratic Left Alliance has a meager 7 percent support in the latest survey. According to the previous one, it would not gain any seats in the parliament.

Despite bickering, leaders of leftist parties are discussing the possibility of running in the forthcoming parliamentary elections together. The Left is weak and needs unity, but agreement on the shape of election lists is not in sight yet.

posted by: Oborski at 22:43 | link | comments |

Going strong...
Listen

Three 1980s bands jostling for positions - the Polish charts!

posted by: Oborski at 22:39 | link | comments |

A difficult but important pontificate...

As Poles hail the German-born Pope Benedict XVI, the weekly Przekrój responds to their interest in the new pontiff publishing a 16-page supplement about him. It quotes Polish bishops who regard the election of Joseph Ratzinger as good news for the Polish church, because the new Pope knows Poland’s problems well.

The fact that he was elected so fast is also good news for the whole church, the bishops believe. They reject the opinion promoted by some western media that he is “a panzer cardinal” as unjust. He is a sophisticated man of great culture, the bishops told Przekroj.

The weekly predicts that the pontificate of Benedict XVI will be difficult but very important. Now is the time in the church for reaping what Pope John Paul had sown, to translate his teachings into life. It will be a difficult time, full of traps and challenges. Benedict XVI, a guardian of the Christian doctrine and an outstanding theologian, is an ideal Pope for this time, Przekroj writes.

The Polish version of Newsweek says that now is a trial time for Polish priests. In the weekly’s opinion, priests stuck in a routine pose a bigger danger to the Polish church than ideological disputes within it. Some priests did not live up to the challenges posed by the illness and death of Pope John Paul.

While some clergy spent whole nights with the faithful, praying for the late pope, others did not want to leave the churches open, arguing that they had to get some sleep. But the spirit of religious revival lives on among the Poles. The question is what the priests are going to do with it, Newsweek wonders.

Polityka, on its part, asks what of the late Pope’s heritage will become a lasting legacy. It writes that while Poles are pre-occupied with plans for erecting monuments to Pope John Paul II, the western world is engaged in a discussion about the good and bad points of his pontificate. And it predicts the biggest problems with its interpretation in western societies.

The weekly mentions the pontiff’s firm No to abortion and contraception. These issues may crop up on the agenda of the new pontificate. True, Pope John Paul failed to convince the enemies of the Church, who argue that his pontificate was a catastrophe, but then no one had expected him to succeed as this is the matter of fundamental ideological differences which make dialogue almost impossible.

Solidarnosc, the weekly of the Solidarity trade union, defends the decision of the union leadership not to invite president Aleksander Kwasniewski to events marking its 25th anniversary. Kwasniewski was invited to attend some events under the patronage of Solidarity’s first, charismatic leader Lech Walesa.

The former president and Nobel peace prize winner, Walesa had manifested animosity towards the post-communist Kwasniewski until their symbolic reconciliation and a hand-shake at the funeral of Pope John Paul. Afterwards, Walesa said it was natural to extend an invitation to his former foe to the Solidarity anniversary celebrations. The Solidarnosc weekly says that Kwasniewski was an enemy, whose career was founded on destroying the union. The 25th anniversary rally is for those who were or still are on the same side.

The decision not to invite declared enemies of Solidarity, who are now wooing it for political reasons, should be viewed in terms of respect for those who devoted their life to the struggle for freedom and democracy, says Solidarnosc.

The weekly Wprost argues against the presence of president Kwasniewski during events in Moscow marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. By not going there, Kwasniewski would have a stronger argument on his side than Russian president Putin, dictators Kim Dzong Il and Turkmenbasha as well as leaders of the free world who sold Poland together with central and eastern Europe to the Soviets 60 years ago. It is better to be conspicuously absent at events planned for 9 May 2005, which will be another falsification of history, than to endorse it with one’s presence. Wprost claims.

review by Krystyna Kolosowska

tygodniksolidarnosc.com
http://polityka.onet.pl/
www.tygodnikpowszechny.com.pl
www.wyprost.pl

posted by: Oborski at 22:37 | link | comments |

If parliamentary elections were held presently, the rightist Law & Justice (PiS) would top popularity ratings replacing the leading centrist Civic Platform (PO). The current support for Law & Justice stands at 25% with the Civic Platform gaining 22% of the vote, while the Catholic based League of Polish Families (LPR) and farmers Self-Defence (Samoobrona) parties received 13% each. However, according to the latest survey of the PENTOR Opinion and Market Research Institute a large majority of respondents are simultaneously convinced the Civic Platform would ultimately emerge victorious in the autumn planned general elections. The ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), now holding a majority in the House, would be expected to get barely 4% of support, running one point short of the required threshold guaranteeing parliamentary representation.

posted by: Oborski at 22:33 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice

"After his breathalyzer showed a 0.2 percent blood alcohol content, he suddenly started to curse the police officer, threatening him that he would cast a spell on his children so they died."
-Sergeant Izabela Grabowska from Kielce police on a monk from a monastery in Jasna Góra, caught drunk driving

"I basically receive no lobbies or corrupt proposals."
-Jan Maria Rokita, leader of the Civic Platform (PO), candidate for prime minister after the expected victory of the rightists in this year's parliamentary elections, on his current situation

"I am against it; we need to resist liberal utopias."
-Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczyński, a presidential candidate, on the idea of a flat tax rate

"You ask interesting questions. I'll have you checked out at the police station."
-Sławomir Wlekły, leader of Samoobrona in Słubice, when asked by a journalist how many members the party has in his region

"Sure, it happened once, when my dogs dragged some bills out of the mailbox and ate them."
-Paweł Nastula, a judo fighter and former Olympic medalist, on the accusation that he failed to pay back some of his debts when he used to run a business

"If these books are published on soft paper, they can be used for hygienic purposes; if the paper's hard, they'll be useless."
-Anatoly Lebedzhka, leader of the Belarusian opposition United Civic Party, on President Alexander Lukashenko's order to place customer comment/complaint books at political parties' headquarters

posted by: Oborski at 22:29 | link | comments (1) |

posted by: Oborski at 16:09 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

"I don't like to hear a candidate say he's honest. No one has ever declared they would be a dishonest president."
-Author Stanisław Lem on the start of the presidential election campaign of Lech Kaczyński, currently the mayor of Warsaw from Law and Justice (PiS)

"Today, promoting a new brand of margarine costs around zl.5 million; promoting a new political leader is far less expensive."
-Andrzej Drzycimski, former press spokesman of ex-President Lech Wałęsa, now an expert on political marketing

I demand that the culprit be prosecuted and penalized for destroying the pillow lining by tearing it; I have evaluated the loss at zl.5.40.
-from a memo written by Stanisław Bogdanowicz, head of a section at the Police Detention Center in Słupsk; the lining in question was destroyed when a 26-year-old charged with possession of stolen goods tried to hang himself

"For the Russians, anyone who doesn't drink vodka and doesn't smoke is a Wahhabi, and if he also has a beard, he must be a terrorist."
-Umar Khanbiyev, a representative of the Chechen separatists, on the Moscow's accusations against Abdul Khalim Sadulayev, who replaced slain President Chechen Aslan Maskhadov

posted by: Oborski at 12:40 | link | comments |

Fom Warsaw Voice...

Polish deputies and senators honored the pope April 6 by adopting an Act Commemorating the Memory of Holy Father Pope John Paul II during a special solemn assembly.

The ceremony was also attended by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Prime Minister Marek Belka, representatives of the diplomatic corps, the Episcopate, social organizations and trade union representatives. On a platform in the corner of the Sejm chamber was the chair used by the pope during his visit to the parliament June 11, 1999. The chair, as well as the national flag, was draped in mourning black.

"Poland is mourning for its most outstanding son. United by grief and pain, Poles honor the memory of a wonderful, wise man and an outstanding pope," said Sejm Speaker Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz. "During the pope's visits to his homeland, crowds of his compatriots asked him to stay with us. He abides with us now through his teachings and only we can decide how long he will remain," Cimoszewicz added.

posted by: Oborski at 12:37 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

Across Poland, crowds of people paid their last respects to John Paul II for a full week following his death up to the day of the funeral.

The death of the Pilgrim Pope on April 2 moved the whole world, but nowhere were the crowds of people who took to the streets and squares on hearing the news as large as those which gathered in Karol Wojtyła's homeland.

Many commentators believe this demonstration of national unity can only be compared with the Solidarity movement of the years 1980-81. Some even say that the sense of national unity created by the death of John Paul II surpassed that earlier experience.

posted by: Oborski at 12:34 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

Poles streaming towards Rome should not have taken anyone by surprise. It was only natural for them to make the trip, just as they had throughout the pontificate in large, happy groups. Even after his death, the Pope's compatriots certainly didn't forget which roads led to Rome.

The black ribbons and white-and-red flags fluttering from cars coming to Rome from Poland spoke volumes about the nationality of their passengers. If in Austria this sign was sometimes incorrectly interpreted as patriotic exhibitionism, in Italy Poles could clearly sense a silent understanding with Italians.

posted by: Oborski at 12:32 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

The number of people who flocked to Rome to pay their last respects to Pope John Paul II may have reached 5 million. In the Vatican alone, the funeral was attended by over 1 million.

It was the largest funeral in the history of Rome, the papacy and according to most commentators, in the history of mankind. It is hard to estimate how many other millions of people followed the ceremony via radio and TV on all continents. Over 200 highest ranking officials-presidents, prime ministers, royalty and religious leaders-traveled from around the world to attend the funeral mass in front of St. Peter's basilica at the Vatican. It was the largest group in the history of such official events. For the first time in history, a U.S. president attended the funeral of a pope, moreover, he was accompanied by two former presidents. Commentators emphasize that it was an easier task to list the world leaders who were not present in Rome-including the president of Russia.

posted by: Oborski at 12:28 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice

A bunch of twerps got their teeth into the Polish president and he lost his cool, went into hysterics, got upset and lost it completely.
Aleksander Kwaśniewski was absolutely entitled to refuse to stand before the Sejm Investigation Commission that’s trying to untangle the corporate chaos in Orlen oil company, when it’s obvious to every child in Poland that the only aim of the rightist deputies in the commission is to hunt down the president.

posted by: Oborski at 20:23 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice

"I wasn't on vacation, I was performing my job as a deputy."
Jan Sieńko, a deputy from the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) from Słupsk, on his participation in the Sixth Conference of Parliament Members of the Arctic Region, held in Greenland

"If my mom had chewed him out more about haphazardly tossing around his socks, he wouldn't have become so bigheaded and perhaps he would've accomplished more as president."
Jarosław Wałęsa, son of the former president, about his father

"Sometimes I listen to the religious broadcasts in the morning and I use the evening political broadcasts to work myself up so I don't fall asleep while driving."
Janusz Braun, a member of the National Radio and Television Council, on whether he listens to the radical Catholic Radio Maryja

"The Alliance, like a goose being fattened for slaughter, is meekly swallowing more and more humiliation."
Krzysztof Martens, leader of the SLD in the Podkarpacie region, on the party's situation

"The error occurred during computer processing; layers in the graphic software shifted."
Wiesław Makuch, co-owner of a company that designed an Easter postcard showing Jesus with four feet

"This is the second time
an office has made a mistake regarding me; two years ago, the computer put me on a list of children obliged to start elementary school-I received a summons, but it was addressed to my parents."
Waleria Hoffman, a 107-year-old resident of Łódź whom the local tax office ordered to report in her tax declaration a business she allegedly ran

posted by: Oborski at 20:20 | link | comments |

Poland United...
Listen

Letter from Poland from Radio Polonia...
By Peter Gentle

When even Polish football fans from opposing teams unite in grief over the death of the Pontiff, you can be sure something truly exceptional has happened.

It could only have happened in Poland.

On the evening of 1 April, the night before John Paul II died, a football match was underway between teams from the cities of Poznan and Szczecin. The crowd watching the game was made up of the usual soccer fans who go to matches here. Crowds for normal league matches are not like their British, Spanish or Italian counterparts. Attendance is quite small – a few thousand at best. The middle class stay away. Dads think twice about bringing their kids, and you won’t see hardly any women at all. Facilities at the grounds are basic, to say the least, and the atmosphere, quite often, can be quite threatening. Polish football fans are a tough bunch, and a large part of the crowd can be seen sporting very short haircuts and rather large boots.

Though the crowd was made up of the normal bunch that night, the outcome of the match would be anything but normal. Towards the end of the first half of the game between Lech Poznan and Pogon Szczecin news started to filter through the crowd that the health the Pope had declined dramatically.

A chant started to go around the stadium, but this was not the chant of animosity or celebration that you usually hear at football games. This time the chant was for the referee to stop the game.

And that’s what happened. The game was abandoned. A minute’s silence was respected and even prayers were said. The two teams from Poznan and Szczecin stood with arms around each other in the middle of the pitch and several of the burly footballers could be seen with tears in their eyes.

The history of Polish football has never seen anything like it.

In the days after the death of the Pontiff was announced Polish football fans rallied round once again. On the Monday following the sad news from Rome a so-called ‘Reconciliation Mass’ was held between 30,000 fans of two teams from Krakow. It was held at the soccer stadium home to the Cracovia football club, the team that Karol Wojtila supported when he was a young man.

And last Friday night, after the funeral, many thousands of people walked silently through the streets of Warsaw in his memory. Among the crowds were the fans of two more soccer teams, this time from the capital.. Fans of Legia Warsaw and Polonia Warsaw - normally bitter rivals with a long history of animosity and street fighting – linked arms and scarves, united in their grief for the departed Pope.

So, as you can see, the last couple of weeks have been anything but normal here.

Solidarity
This spirit of unity, solidarity and togetherness has affected many other parts of Polish society as well. Where football hooligans have led, others have followed. If there is one group of people who are as despised as much as football hooligans are in Poland then it is Polish politicians. And even they have been showing an unusual eagerness to drop their old animosities.

Maybe this is even more unprecedented than the sight of Polish football fans linking scarves and holding hands.

The best example of this was when two archrivals, former president Lech Welesa and current president, Aleksander Kwasniewski, publicly shook hands when they were attending the Pope’s funeral in Rome. These two politicians are well known for their intense dislike of each other. Welesa, the former head of the Solidarity trade union, and Kwasniewski, the former communist. In 1995 they fought a presidential election campaign as bitter and nasty as any fight between Polish football supporters.

And now Welesa has even invited President Kwasniewski to take part in celebrations to mark this year’s twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Solidarity trade union.

When politicians and football supporters start acting like star-struck lovers then you know that normal life has been suspended in Poland.

And there has been much discussion by sociologists and political commentators over the last few days about how Poles – well known for their excessive individualism and anarchic attitude to life – have finally, and profoundly, come together at last. The old adage goes that if you get four Poles together in one room then you will hear five different opinions expressed. Even the Solidarity trade union disintegrated into bitter infighting before the ink was dry on the Round Table agreements of 1989 that brought communism to an end here.

Had the Pope’s death finally brought the country together, many commentators have asked. Some have wondered if the turnout in the general election this year will be higher than the normal , and dismal, 48% because of the events of the last few days.

Then, last Sunday, I turned on the TV to watch the news. And there were some more pictures of football supporters. Another story about a love-fest between Polish football supporters? Well, no, not exactly. There were Polish football fans knocking lumps out of each other amid the tear gas and water canon.

And the Solidarity trade union has refused to accept Walesa’s plea for Kwasnowski to take part in their anniversary celebrations.

Expect Polish politicians to be knocking lumps out of each other in the forth coming general election.

Oh, well. It was nice while it lasted.

posted by: Oborski at 20:15 | link | comments |

The letter to the faithful by Krakow metropolita cardinal Franciszek Macharski is being read out during today’s masses in Poland. “Our sorrow and vigils” writes Cardinal Macharski “show our gratitude to God for giving us John Paul II “.The Cardinal appeals that the teachings of John Paul II be not forgotten and that the grief and memory that unites us should continue to unite us and that the life and death of Pope John Paul II be not wasted.

posted by: Oborski at 19:38 | link | comments |

A monument to John Paul II was inaugurated Saturday at Rakowicki cemetery in Krakow, where the late pope's family are buried.
The 1.6-metre high bronze, by sculptor Czeslaw Dzwigaj, depicts the pope kneeling on a prie-dieu, or kneeling desk.
Dzwigaj finished the monument four years ago but Krakow city authorities decided at the time not to place it in the cemetery.
On his visits as pope to his native Poland, John Paul II often prayed at the family grave at Rakowicki cemetery, where his parents and elder brother Edmund are buried.
Monuments to the pope are to be erected in several cities and towns around Poland, including Wadowice in the south, where the pope was born Karol Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, and at Pilsudski Square in Warsaw.
Pilsudski Square was one of the high holy places in John Paul II's pontificate, as it was there that on June 10, 1979 he uttered the memorable phrase: "May the spirit come down and renew the face of this land."
Those words were interpreted by many Poles as an exhortation to stand up to the communist regime and allow a new Poland to be born.

posted by: Oborski at 19:36 | link | comments |

Polish pilgrims have begun a massive return home. After 3750 km of route the last of special trains Warsaw Rome Warsaw arrived in the capital at 4 am in the morning. Special trains departing from Krakow have already brought back all pilgrims on Saturday night. All Polish border crossings are well prepared for the huge number of people coming back by cars and coaches. According to the estimates of the Polish border services on the Czech frontier over 50 thousand people have already returned to Poland. The border authorities on the Polish Czech crossing estimate that this border alone was passed by 120 thousand Poles who left for the Vatican ceremonies.

posted by: Oborski at 19:33 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:31 | link | comments |

From time to time our super Polish Ex-Servicemen's Club here in Kidderminster thows dinners at short notice just for the heck of it. Tonight we had cream of vegetable soup followed by chicken breasts in mushroom sauce accompanied by mashed potatoes, carrots, peas and beans. This was followed by two individual apple pies apiece with custard. Red and white wine was included. All for £4.50. On top of that there is a free film show - tonight "C.K. Dezerterzy"

He flew out from Luton at 7.10am on Tuesday and joined the queue to pay his respects to Pope John Paul II as he lay in State.

He then subsequently later rejoined the queue and did it all over again which must have taken some considerable stamina.

Not having pre-arranged accomodation he found a Convent who somehow found a hotel room for him.

While in Rome he was lucky enough to be able to concelebrate the Holy Mass as the Polish Church of St. Stanislaw.

He was also able to concelebrate the Requiem Mass for Pope John Paul II for those around him in the crowd on St.Peter's Square on Friday morning. That must have been quite some experience!

He flew back this morning and made it back - exhausted but inspired - in time for the dinner tonight.

I think we are all extremely happy and proud that "our" Father made it to Rome! All of us who could not make the trip and had to watch everything on television feel that "we" and the whole Polish community in Kidderminster were "represented" in Rome.

posted by: Oborski at 23:19 | link | comments |

The Roman catholic church begins a nine day mourning after the funeral of Pope John Paul II. The mourning terminates with the opening of the conclave to choose the next Pope on 18 April.

On Friday around a million people gathered on and around St. Peter’s square to take part in the funeral ceremonies. And it is said that around a billion people world wide watched one of the most momentous funerals in history via television.

The Pope is buried in a crypt under St. Peter's Basilica. To the sound of choirs singing in Latin, the tolling of a giant bell and a seemingly endless wave of applause, 12 pall bearers carried away John Paul's simple cypress-wood coffin from the steps of St. Peter's Basilica as the Mass ended.

It was turned for one last time to face the square where the world's third-longest serving pope had said thousands of Masses and was then taken down to the crypt below for burial, encased in two further caskets.

posted by: Oborski at 14:34 | link | comments |

Life in Poland came to a standstill as people watched the Pope's funeral at home, gathered in churches or in squares, where huge TV screens were put up showing the ceremonies. At 9.37 pm , the hour the Pope died, lights were put out in homes and candles burnt in windows.
One hundred thousand Varsovians took part in a 'White March', giving thanks for the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. The march wound up in the Old Town Castle square with a mass. Hundreds of Varsovians met on the busy John Paul II avenue, which lit up with thousands of candles. The march came to a complete halt when sirens and horns signaled 9.37 p.m., people knelt down and prayed for the Pope.

Twenty thousand inhabitants of the Pope’s birth place of Wadowice in the south, met in the square named after John Paul II, while a special mass was said in the suburban Krakow Blonia common and at 9.37 a classic music concert “Krakow in tribute to the Pope” was inaugurated.

posted by: Oborski at 14:32 | link | comments |

President Aleksander Kwasniewski appealed to all Poles to remember the mood of reflection and mutual respect which accompanied the whole country in days since the death of the Pope..

Upon his arrival from the ceremonies in the Vatican , Kwasniewski underlined that Poles witnessed a huge spiritual change in the last few days, which may have surprised all of us. The head of state expressed hope that the many examples of integrity, goodness and confidence which were evident after the news of the Pope’s death will remain and that Poles will be able to make use of the “last gift of Pope John Paul II” and show more respect and kindness in everyday life.

The president said that one such example is his reconciliation with former President, Lech Walesa. Both politicians shook hands after the ceremonies in the Vatican and had a long conversation about the future of Poland. Kwasniewski added that both he and Lech Walesa owed this gesture to the Holy Father.Kwasniewski thanked Poles for their peace and dignity during those hard days in Poland and in the Vatican. The national mourning in Poland has come to an end after the day of the Pope’s funeral

posted by: Oborski at 14:26 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:41 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:21 | link | comments |

Pope John Paul II , the great and indefatigable fighter for peace, equality, human rights and freedoms. The herald of Christ’s preaching and his most ardent servant. This is how he is mostly remembered , but there is also a very important legacy left us by the Holy father: his literary works. We take a look at how prolific a writer was John Paul II and what was the most vital subject of his works.

posted by: Oborski at 19:49 | link | comments |

Tributes are paid to 'great' Pope

A leading Kidderminster councillor has paid tribute to the Pope, describing him a great leader - and a great Pole.

Mike Oborski, councillor for Offmore and Comberton and the Consul of Poland for the West Midlands, praised the late Pope John Paul II who died at the weekend.

Mr Oborski said the Pope, who was born Karol Wojtyla near Krakow in 1920, was one of the greatest and most dearly loved figures in the whole of Polish history.

He said: "As well as being a great world religious leader and the leader of our Church he played a crucial role in the events which led to the fall of Communism in Poland and subsequently to the collapse of the whole Soviet empire.

"The Pope has been the ultimate moral authority for Poles during the 15 years of harsh reforms and often painful transformation from communism into a Western democracy.

"A recent poll shows that Poles consider the Pope the most important personality of the last century and his election to the papacy in 1978 as more important than the fall of communism.

"He occupies a very special place in the hearts of all Poles. He reached out to all Poles.

His wisdom, common sense, leadership and the sheer strength of his personality illuminated our lives and shaped our aspirations and hopes.

"As a young man he shared Polish suffering in the Second World War. Subsequently he shared Poland's suffering throughout the long dark decades of communist oppression.

"Eventually it was Pope John Paul II who led Poland out of communism and into freedom once again.

"The Polish community in the West Midlands will be in the very deepest mourning as will all our fellow countrymen in Poland and across the World.

"The fact that his sad passing was widely expected does not lessen the blow.

He is for now and for all times a part of our Polish history and our Polish consciousness."

posted by: Oborski at 16:24 | link | comments |

By plane and train, coach and car, hundreds of thousands of Poles are heading to the Vatican for Friday's funeral of their beloved countryman, Pope John Paul II.

Latest estimates by Poland's foreign ministry suggest that one million Poles will attend the funeral.

Extra services to Rome laid on by Poland's national airline and railway companies are completely sold out.

With tickets on public transport in such short supply, church and community groups from across Poland are organizing their own charters.

Four hundred pilgrims from Krakow's Catholic Cultural Centre have bought tickets for one of three special charter aircraft to Rome - even though the fare costs more than half the country's average monthly wage of 2200 zlotys (US$700).

"The seats on the first plane are mostly taken by priests from Krakow. The charters will be leaving late on Thursday afternoon.

"We'll get people as close to St Peter's Square as we can and they'll stay there until after the funeral," added Mr Pawlik.

John Paul II was born in the southern town of Wadowice. For many in his homeland, he was quite simply the greatest Pole that ever lived.

"The Pope has always been the greatest authority and guide in my life," said Maria Deskur, a book editor from Krakow who is heading to the Vatican with her husband.

"In difficult moments I asked myself what the pope would have done in my situation.

At her office in central Krakow, travel agent Anna Cios has been deluged with inquiries.

"This is a very special situation, though. We don't want to profit from pilgrims and we're offering the lowest possible fares."

Poles seem undeterred by the shortage of hotel beds at their destination, the massive queue lining up to see the Pope's body lying in state and the crush of fellow pilgrims that will greet them on their arrival.

"I feel it is the last time I can do something for the Pope," said Maria Naimska, 19, a student from Warsaw.

"I'd rather be just a few miles away from the funeral than here in Poland, hundreds of miles away."

In this deeply Catholic country, many feel their lives are closely intertwined with John Paul II's papacy.

"I feel a special relationship with the Pope as I was born in 1977," said Krzysztof Lapinski, 28.

"He was there throughout my whole life. I want to be with him on his final journey."

The police expect traffic to be heavy on Poland's western and southern borders from Wednesday evening onwards.

"We've increased the number of officers on the border and we're easing procedures for travellers, especially for the elderly and disabled," said a police spokesman, Jaroslaw Zukowicz.

None of those travelling from Poland to the Vatican expect their pilgrimage to be easy. But for hundreds of thousands of Poles it is a journey they feel they must make.

posted by: Oborski at 14:06 | link | comments |

The scramble continues for seats on extra trains and planes that will take Polish pilgrims to the Vatican for the Pope's funeral. As many as one million Poles are expected to take part. Iwona Lejman reports.

posted by: Oborski at 13:30 | link | comments |

An emotional farewell...

All the weeklies were published in special editions, featuring black framed photos of Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2.

The Polish version of Newsweek tries to capture the grief and shock of Poles, asking rhetorically – 'how to write about the emotions of a nation for whom the Pope was the moral beacon.' The weekly publishes photos of the grief stricken faithful here, in the Vatican and all over the world. Poland, it says, came to a standstill when the news was reported, gripped by fear and in need of deep thought, saying farewell to a man who was bigger than life.

Wprost recalls the day when Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope. Rejoicing and celebrating, we did not realize that the famous words Habemus papam would have such a magical power, opening the epoch of John Paul II. "Eleven years later communism, the most powerful totalitarian system of the 20th century, collapsed. Its end was brought about by unarmed masses of people commanded by Lech Walesa, but led and inspired by Pope John Paul. Poland returned to a family of free, sovereign nations. We have been extremely fortunate to live in the epoch of Pope John Paul II – a Pope who had such a great influence on millions of believers and non-believers as well as followers of other creeds," Wprost says.

The lay catholics weekly Tygodnik Powszechny devotes all of its 28 pages to the late Pontiff, recalling that even before his death his Vatican associates called him 'John Paul the Great.' "It is not often that one hears such emphatic statements in the Vatican. It was also said that his was a pontificate which changed the world. Polityka expresses the feelings of most Poles bidding farewell the Pope John Paul, saying: we love him and are proud that we lived during his pontificate. On April 2, a whole chapter in the history of the Church and the world was closed. Closed also was a chapter in our personal histories. The Pope will never again tell his homeland to have no fear, he will not point his finger at us in warning, will not smile at the memory of special cream cakes made in his hometown of Wadowice. We will not have such a pontificate again. The greatest Pole has departed, his message will stay with us."

The weeklies recall the milestones of the 26 year long pontificate of Pope John Paul, which ended - writes the Solidarnosc weekly of the Solidarity trade union – with a major lesson in suffering.

On other matters, Wprost reveals the shocking finding that in Nazi occupied Warsaw alone there were several thousand people who blackmailed Jews threatening to give them away into the hands of the notorious Gestapo. Historians have long assumed that it was a marginal phenomenon, but were wrong.

There are 5874 trees in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem planted in tribute to Poles who saved Jews during the war, at the risk their own life. It is almost a forest. But if trees representing those who informed on Jews were planted they would make up a dense forest, as well. Mirroring the scope of this hideous occupation is the fact that a new word was coined to describe the blackmailers. It is also reflected in dramatic wartime accounts. The underground press wrote about an alarming rise in the number of 'grasses', and the mushrooming of blackmai gangs which were making the life of a growing number of people unbearable. A Jewish ghetto chronicler in Warsaw wrote shortly before his death that blackmailers and grasses were a nightmare for Jews. Emmanuel Ringelblum estimated their number in Warsaw at anything between several hundred and several thousand. For many Jews hiding outside the ghettos, grasses were more dangerous than the Nazis. They were cruising the vicinity of ghettos, looking for their victims, hunting for well-off Jews especially, Wprost writes Few wartime blackmailers were brought to account after the war and were mainly those whom their victims knew by name and could easily identify. It can be assumed that the majority lived happily among us until old age.

tygodniksolidarnosc.com
http://polityka.onet.pl/
www.tygodnikpowszechny.com.pl
www.wyprost.pl

posted by: Oborski at 13:25 | link | comments |

Will and testament to be released Thursday...

It is already known that the testament of John Paul II is a 15 page document written in Polish. Its first passages date back to 1979, while the final ones have been added 3 years ago. The text contains warm references to the late Polish primate Stefan cardinal Wyszynski and the pope’s speculations on his own eternal place of rest. Ultimately, John Paul II decided his place of burial should traditionally be the Vatican. The pope had refrained from naming the cardinal In Pectore, which means we shall never learn about his potential personal candidate for the next head of the Roman-Catholic church. Holy Sea spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls described the document as a unique spiritual diary.

posted by: Oborski at 13:23 | link | comments |

Last chance to pay respects...

Director Marek Golkowski from the Polish Tourist Information Center in Rome told Polish Radio that most of the pilgrims must be aware they will be witnessing the event away from the Vatican, scattered throughout the Italian capital, as practically every square meter of streets and parks in the vicinity of St. Peter’s basilica is packed with people arriving from all over the world. The Polish consul in Rome Janusz Ostrowski added that while most of the place in St. Peter’s Square has been reserved for some 200 official national delegations, the capital’s authorities have put up giant screens at various sites in the city for all visitors to be able to view the ceremonies live. The Vatican has given 10 places to the Polish delegation for the funeral of John Paul II. The group will be headed by president Aleksander Kwasniewski and the First Lady, together with the prime minister and speakers of both houses of parliament as well as former president and legendary leader of Solidarity Lech Walesa and his wife Danuta.

posted by: Oborski at 13:18 | link | comments |

On 16 October 1978 Polish cardinal Karol Wojtyla was elected Pope and assumed the name of Pope John Paul II. He was the first Polish Pope in history and the first non-Italian Pope in 456 years as well as… the only Pope to appear in a comic book. In 1978 few if anyone expected that they were seeing the beginning of a 26 year long pontificate that was to transform the Church, inspire a revolution which led to the collapse of the Soviet bloc and establish dialogue between Christians and Jews. A boy from a small town of Wadowice, southern Poland, gripped the hearts of millions of people around the world, growing up to become the man of the century.
Radio Polonia’s Krystyna Kolosowska reports.

Grief stricken faithful gathered in front of the house in Wadowice, southern Poland, where the Pope was born, to pay tribute to their beloved Pontiff with wreaths, flowers and song, after his death on April 2, 2005. These young people singing the Pope’s favorite song, “The Boat”, knew him only as the Holy Father. But to many an elderly resident of Wadowice, Pope John Paul was Karol Wojtyla, affectionately called “Lolek”. Wadowice before the war was a tiny town with a mixed Polish-Jewish population. Among his friends were also Jews, with whom Lolek played football. A tall boy, he was an ideal goalie. Piotr Pazinski from the Jewish monthly Midrash, says that as a boy the future Pope made many Jewish friends.

“There was a Jewish soccer team, there was Jewish and Polish soccer teams in this town. So, he picked the Jewish one as a mark that he opposed anti-Semitism even as a child.”

It was at that time, surely, that the seeds of the Pope’s future teachings on dialogue between Christians and Jews were sown, Piotr Pazinski explains.

“He knew many Jews as neighbours. And because of this, probably this Polish pope was the best person, was the best head of the Catholic church who started this gigantic and still unfinished process of reconciliation.”

It is the role of the priests now to bring this message of the Pope to the grassroots in a country where anti-Semitism is far from dead. Marek Nowak, a Dominican priest, member of the Polish Council of Christians and Jews.

“The most important message for us, for the Catholics, is how we should look at the Jews. The Jews are our brothers – elder brothers.”

Pope John Paul II spent 40 years of his life in the historic city of Krakow. Roza Thun of the Schumann Foundation was among the many young people who were fortunate to become the then bishop Karol Wojtyla’s friends. On the phone from Krakow, she remembers the future Pope as a person always ready to listen to other people.

“Many people say he was the pope of the younger generation. In the 1970’s I was also the younger generation. And we always knew that he was there and it was right what we are doing when we were printing underground newspapers that were illegal at that time. We tried to learn the history of Poland – the recent history, to understand the system that dominated us. And we organized courses – the so-called flying university – first in the flats. But the police would come and arrest us, and we couldn’t meet. Bishop Wojtyla then decided to open the church for us.”

The message of Pope John Paul II, who preached a civilization of love, will remain with us. So will the memory of how he told Poles back in 1979, on his first visit to Poland as Pope – “ have no fear”, which was understood as a call to oppose communism. Since then the communist system collapsed, Poland embraced democracy, joining NATO and the European Union. It was a process in which the Pope’s inspiration was crucial.

posted by: Oborski at 13:16 | link | comments |

One priest interviewed on Radio Polonia told us that 'a miracle has happened of mass confessions' following the Pope's death. So many people come to confession in his church that he can hardly cope. Bogdan Zaryn talks to some of the people filling Polish churches.

posted by: Oborski at 13:14 | link | comments |

'The Boat' is the John Paul II's favourite song, which he said came to him in a flash the moment he was elected Pope back in 1978. Now it's the song Polish Catholics sing in tribute to the Holy Father. Krystyna Kolosowska has more on that song.

posted by: Oborski at 13:12 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

We grope for words. Because naming something means understanding it. Who was John Paul II, how will he remain in our memories and the memory of generations? What did he contribute to the history of civilization? Words, crumbs of meaning tumble in from the world. Poland is filled with them. He was the parish priest of the global village. An uncompromising guardian of values.

Adam Michnik, historical leader of the democratic opposition and editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, said in his first publicly spoken words in months, "John Paul II defended all that was fixed in a changing world. He was as much a pope-staid defender of principles as he was a giver of continual mercy to those who erred. He was a pope of testimony and a pope of diplomacy...though more of testimony than diplomacy. He was a pope who taught courage and heroism, but understood the idea of compromise in public life and warned against the fatal logic of vengeance. He was a sign of the times and a sign of opposition to his times; he said to his times: 'yes, yes, no, no'."

Archbishop Tadeusz Życiński, an intellectual and a liberal hierarch, called Karol Wojtyła the Moses of our times, who brought us out of the house of slavery, led us across the Red Sea and is our guide on the shifting sands of freedom that are so easy to get lost in.

A genius and visionary, a citizen of his era, like so few others understanding the hopes and dangers those times brought. A master of and an expert on the latest forms of interpersonal communication. An apostle of love and a consistent moralist.

To the Poles, he was a gift from fate, the end and the beginning of a chapter. An impulse and a sign of rebirth. A source of hope and strength. A restoration of dignity and a call for rejection of sin.

He will remain a symbol, an integral, indomitable figure. A beacon. For some, he will also be a teacher, a guide along the complicated paths of thoughts, feelings and actions. A sentinel and a judge.

Before Karol Wojtyła, there were other popes called "the Great"-Gregory, Leo and Nicholas. Now, John Paul joins them. John Paul the Great.

1978
Oct. 16-Cardinal Karol Wojtyła is elected Pope, he takes the name of John Paul II; Urbi et Orbi blessing
Oct. 22-inauguration of the pontificate on St. Peter's Square

1979
June 2-10-first pilgrimage to Poland, in retrospect seen as a great inspiration for the rise of the Solidarity movement

1981
May 13-assassination attempt by Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca on St. Peter's Square, probably inspired by Soviet KGB; the Pope returns to the Vatican after 21 days in the hospital
July 7-Bishop Józef Glemp is appointed Primate of Poland

1982
Feb. 12-the Holy See announces a declaration regarding Poland at a CSCE conference in Madrid

1983
June 16-23-second pilgrimage to Poland
Dec. 11-ecumenical meeting at the Christus Kirche Lutheran church in Rome on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth
Dec. 27-the Pope visits would-be assassin Ali Agca at the Rebibbia prison

1986
Oct. 27-World Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi with representatives of 47 Christian communities and 13 religions of the world

1987
June 8-14-third pilgrimage to Poland

1989
Aug. 26-Józef Kowalczyk is appointed Apostolic nuncio to Poland and becomes archbishop

1991
June 1-9-fourth trip to Poland-part one
Aug. 13-16-fourth trip to Poland-part two; Jasna Góra: celebrations of the Sixth World Youth Day

1995
May 22-fifth (unofficial) visit to Poland

1997
May 31-June 10-sixth pilgrimage to Poland; Gniezno: meeting with presidents of seven Central European countries

1998
Feb. 23-ratification of the Concordat between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland

1999
June 5-17-seventh pilgrimage to Poland; the Pope speaks in the Sejm for the first time, he also prays at the Umschlagplatz, the site from which Jews were transported to the death camp in Treblinka
Dec. 24-opening of the Holy Door in St. Peter's Basilica, beginning the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000

2000
Jan. 18-the Pope says an ecumenical service together with Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey and Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Athanasios, starting the Week of Prayer for Unity of Christians
Aug. 15-20-World Youth Days in Rome with over 1 million participants
Sept. 3-beatification of Popes Pius IX and John XXIII

2001
Feb. 21-the Pope appoints 44 new cardinals (the largest number in Church history)
March 11-the most numerous beatification in Church history, the Pope canonizes 233 martyrs of the civil war in Spain (1936-39)
Dec. 14-the Pope declares a day of fasting for peace following the terrorist attack on the United States

2002
Jan. 24-in Assisi the Pope meets with world religious leaders to pray for peace
Aug. 16-19-eighth pilgrimage to Poland; the Pope says a Holy Mass for 2.5 million faithful in the Błonie commons in Cracow

2003
Oct. 15-18-jubilee celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the pontificate
Oct. 16-beatification of Mother Theresa of Calcutta

2004
Aug. 14-15-pilgrimage to Lourdes-the final, 104th foreign trip by the Pope

2005
Jan. 31-the Pope is taken to the Gemelli clinic with symptoms of acute laryngotracheitis; he stays at the clinic until Feb. 10
Feb. 24-the Pope is taken to the clinic again and undergoes a tracheotomy; he is hospitalized until March 13; shortly before leaving the hospital, he speaks to the faithful for the last time
March 20-the Pope does not say Holy Mass on Palm Sunday, but after the mass blesses the faithful in silence from his apartment window
March 25-the first Stations of the Cross at
the Colosseum without the Pope's participation
March 27-a silent Urbi et Orbi from a window of the Apostolic Palace
March 31-evening announcement of the rapid deterioration of the Pope's health
April 1-2-information is released concerning the Pope's heart failure, falling blood pressure and shallow breathing; the Pope refuses to be taken to the clinic
April 2, 9:37 p.m.-the Pope dies from septic shock and cardiovascular collapse

posted by: Oborski at 11:16 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 15:12 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 11:17 | link | comments |

Some 300,000 people from around Poland have taken part in an open-air mass in memory of Pope John Paul II held in Warsaw’s Pilsudski Square.
The mass was celebrated by Cardinal Jozef Glemp who recalled that it was in the same square in June 1979 that everything started with the Pope’s words: ‘May the spirit come and renew the face of this land’.
‘John Paul now calls on us to unite again, but this time to pray for him, to thank God for the gifts of this Pope, his teachings and the way he lived his life’, the Cardinal said to the huge crowd which included the Polish president, government officials and members of the diplomatic corps.

posted by: Oborski at 23:29 | link | comments |

More youth marches in tribute to the Pope have been held in many Polish towns. Holding flickering candles to light up the darkness, more than 150,000 youths marched in silence through Krakow. Some 25,000 fans of the city’s two rival teams exchanged scarves during a mass of reconciliation at the Cracovia stadium. Tens of thousands of youths also marched through Warsaw, Katowice, Poznan, Lodz and Lublin, later gathering for vigils.

Tens of thousands of people used the Internet and text messages to coordinate the celebrations.

As of Monday, nearly half a million internet users wrote condolences on a major Polish Internet site.

Many groups of pilgrims have already left for Rome by coach and private cars. A delegation from the Pope’s birthplace of Wadowice has taken a small bag of soil in their luggage. They hoped it would be buried with the pope at St Peter's basilica. It is a tradition to take soil from Poland to be buried with compatriots who are interred far from their native land. Every seat to Rome on LOT national airlines has been sold out until Friday.

Workers at Telekommunikacja Polska, Poland’s telecom company, called off a strike over job cuts scheduled for today out of respect for the pope.

Large screens and monitors at the Warsaw Stock Exchange were changed to black and white, a huge image of the pontiff towering over the trading floor. Trading will be suspended for three minutes of silence at noon every day until Thursday and will be closed on Friday, the day of the pope’s funeral, as will be shopping centres, schools and public offices.

posted by: Oborski at 16:21 | link | comments |

The Polish national railway company PKP has announced it would lay on six special trains to take pilgrims to Rome for John Paul II's funeral. Fares for the trip from Warsaw to Rome, via Krakow and Katowice would be as low as possible.
Many groups of pilgrims have already left for Rome by coach and private cars. Every seat to Rome on LOT national airlines has been sold out until Friday. Travel agents and transport providers are doing their best to find a way to get the pilgrims to Rome.
A delegation from the Pope’s birthplace of Wadowice has taken a small bag of soil in their luggage. They hoped it would be buried with the pope at St Peter's basilica.
It is a tradition to take soil from Poland to be buried with compatriots who are interred far from their native land. Even if the hotels in Rome were fully booked, the Wadowice pilgrims had no problem finding accommodation, as the inhabitants of their twin town of Carpineto Romano, south of Rome, have offered to lodge anyone from John Paul II's birthplace.

posted by: Oborski at 16:17 | link | comments |

Radio Polonia Reports...
Boy born outside Pope's former Krakow residence...

A baby boy was born last night in an ambulance parked outside the Bishops Palace in the city of Kraków, the residence of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla until he was elected pope in 1978. Doctors say the birth was fine, in time, and the baby is healthy.
A march by 150,000 youths paying tribute to the pope prevented the
baby's mother from reaching a hospital before going into labour. Her
taxi driver asked medics supervising the march to summon an
ambulance.
Since the pope’s death, the Bishops Palace in Krakow has
become a focal point for mourners who remember the pontiff standing
in the palace window for evening chats with the city's youth during
his pilgrimages home.

posted by: Oborski at 16:15 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 08:01 | link | comments |

The last few days have been a rollercoaster of emotions for the people of Krakow - the place Pope John Paul II considered home.

Roman Catholics across the world were, naturally, upset by his passing - but in Poland the shock seems to have been harder.

Everyone knew the Pope was ill, everyone knew he was dying, but no-one really seemed prepared for the inevitable.

The tolling of the bells on Saturday to announce his death sent shockwaves through Krakow.

There were the tears, the candles, the flowers, the masses - but the grief seemed much more personal.

The leader of the Roman Catholic world, spiritual and moral guide to millions, was Polish and that is what really mattered.

No-one in Krakow talks about his role in the transition from communism, no-one mentions his conservative views on abortion and contraception.

Karol Wojtyla, born in Wadowice, priest and archbishop in Krakow, had been chosen by Rome.

They knew his favourite place in the Zakopane mountains, they knew his favourite hymn and football team and they knew he was partial to kermowka - a cream slice.

For many, the pride and love they felt for him went beyond that for their own fathers or grandfathers.

The relationship was best captured one night in Krakow - the Pope in his old house near the basilica, thousands of people outside chanting, wishing him a long and healthy life.

"How can I have one [a long and healthy life] if you don't let me sleep?" came the reply from the pontiff at the window.

He sang, they sang, he left, they stayed. But always, in the encore appearances at the window, he was smiling and clearly moved by the occasion.

Now that he is gone, many struggle to consider the alternative, the replacement - an inevitably non-Polish pope.

"We have had almost two generations with him as Pope," said Father Kigas, from Krakow. "The process of change needs time."

But after the immediate shock and sense of loss, he added, people can still find the joy that they had such a man as their Pope.

Even the clergy were taken aback by the number of people that have constantly filled the churches over the last few days.

Young and old appeared to feel that was the best place to find some comfort.

One taxi driver asked a priest: "What is happening Father? Even the old communists are all in church."

About 150,000 are said to have come to Krakow since his death, to be closer to where Pope John Paul II lived and worked.

The main squares and cafes were packed with crowds, apparently out enjoying the evening sunshine.

There seemed to be a sense of relief after the past few dark days of vigil and prayer, but people are still subdued.

Searching for some comfort, many quote the last message from Pope as being: "I am happy, I want you to be happy."

posted by: Oborski at 17:14 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 17:00 | link | comments |

Over the last few days I have followed the events of the illness and passing of Pope John Paul II as closely as possible.

The English press has been balanced and informative and BBC coverage has been equally adequate. It has to be admitted that CNN coverage has been fuller, more responsive and more sharply focussed.

However it is the performance of the Polish Media which has been truly excellent.

The Gazeta and Radio Polonia web sites (the latter in both Polish and English) have been exemplary - well designed, easy to follow, speedily updated, highly informative and have invariably caught the spirit of the moment. Radio Polonia has provided an essential and truly excellent radio service throughout.

Polish television coverage can only be described as stunning! The three channels to which I have access - TV Polonia, TVN and TV4 - have been intelligent, resourceful, considered, and informative throughout. At their very best they have provided images of great beauty, symbolism and sadness which have got to the very heart of the meaning, mystery and achievement of the life, final illness and death of Pope John Paul II and of its signifigance to the Polish people and psyche.

The Polish Media is far from perfect. It has its fair share of folly, scandals and blunders. At this time, however, we can can now claim that the media of a free and independent Poland has really come of aged and demonstrated that it is capable of true greatness that can stand comparison with the finest media coverage anywhere on the planet.

posted by: Oborski at 23:03 | link | comments |

'A great Pope has departed'

Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski said he wished to express the Polish nation's deepest sorrow and mourning. 'A great Pope had departed, our most eminent countryman, the good father of us all, believers and non-believers, members of different religions.' President Kwasniewski was speaking at the presidential palace in Warsaw. Kwasniewski stressed that Poland would not have become free it it had not been for the Pope.

National mourning was declared until the Pope's funeral, which must happen within nine days of the Pontiff's death. The president ordered flags to be lowered at half mast for a period of one week.

Lech Walesa, who led Poland's Solidarity movement, which won power after a decade of struggle and hastened the collapse of the Soviet bloc, said Polish-born John Paul II inspired the drive to end communism in Eastern Europe.

Without him "there would be no end of communism, or at least much later, and the end would have been bloody," Walesa said.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev called the Pope "Humanitarian Number One on the planet," while Russian President Vladimir V. Putin said the Pope's "spiritual and political legacy have been deservedly valued by humanity."

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, whose country once was divided by the Iron Curtain, said: "By his efforts and through his impressive personality, he changed our world."

In Madrid, Spain, several thousand people, mostly young, gathered in a square, holding candles, singing hymns, and playing tambourines in front of pictures of the Pope. In Cologne, a predominantly Catholic German city, hundreds packed its cathedral.

Church bells rang out for the Pope in communist Cuba as authorities allowed Catholics to mourn a man they praised for standing up to neoliberal capitalism. Cubans filled churches for services for the only pontiff ever to set foot on the island.

posted by: Oborski at 22:42 | link | comments |

The Church of Our Lady of Ostra Brama in Kidderminster's Pitt Street was full this morning. Many young people - recently arrived from Poland and now working in the area - joined the older members of the congregation who came here after World War II.

Afterwards the atmosphere at the Polish Club in St. George's Street was quiet and thoughtful as members and friends chatted and watched live TV coverage of a huge outdoor Mass in Warsaw's Pilsudski Square. It was while celebrating Holy Mass on the very same spot shortly after his election to the Papacy that Pope John Paul II delivered his famous homily that suddenly speeded events that would lead to the collapse of Communnism in Poland and eventually across the whole Soviet Empire.

posted by: Oborski at 15:34 | link | comments |

A Tribute to Pope John Paul II

The Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland for the West Midlands in Kidderminster, Councillor Mike Oborski, pays tribute to the life of Pope John Paul II...

Although not unexpected, the passing of Pope John Paul II has come as an enormous blow to Poles across the two counties - as to Poles in Poland and indeed across the whole world.

For Poles, Pope John Paul II was not only the Polish Pope: he was one of the greatest figures in Polish history and a one-man embodiment of Polish national hopes and aspirations.

As a young man he was there alongside the people of Poland during the period of German occupation and Nazi terror.

Later, as Priest, Bishop, Archbishop and Cardinal he became an increasingly important figure in the moral battle against Soviet oppression and exploitation of Poland.

His elevation to the papacy was a landmark event in Polish history, uniting the whole nation and transforming the Polish longing for freedom from a mere dream into a demand that could not be suppressed.

On June 2, 1979, just eight months after his consecration as pope, John Paul II returned to his native Poland for a nine-day visit that heralded the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire.

The pope said mass that day in Victory Square in Warsaw, a place more often the scene of army parades and rallies orchestrated by the ruling communist government.

Officially, Poland was atheist, and the government had confined and thwarted the church at every turn, stopping just short of outright confrontation.

But Poland had been a stronghold of Catholicism for more than a thousand years - it would take more than 35 years of communism to snuff out that faith.

So it was that 250,000 Poles crowded into the square to behold this robust and charismatic fellow Pole, charged with emotion and special purpose, standing beneath an enormous wooden cross.

"To understand himself, man must understand Jesus Christ," the pope told his listeners that day.

"He can understand neither who he is nor what his truth may be, neither his vocation nor his final end, without the help of the Lord."

After a pause, the pope then uttered words that were at once an affirmation to the faithful and a challenge to the secular authorities:

"Therefore, Christ cannot be kept out of the history of man in any part of the globe, at any longitude or latitude of geography. ... Christ cannot be kept out of this part of the world. To try to do this is an act against man."

The applause began slowly, then rose in a crescendo, thundering across the square again and again like storm waves battering a seashore.

For eight long minutes the applause continued. And when it began to subside, and the pope, hand on his chest, was unable to continue, the singing began:

"Christ conquers, Christ rules," they sang - hundreds of thousands of triumphant voices.

And from among the yellow and white papal flags in the crowd a banner was unfurled that read: “Freedom, independence, protection of human rights."

As one observer commented: "Everyone suddenly perceived that the pope was the real power. The police meant nothing. The politicians meant nothing."

The emergence of the Solidarity trade union in Poland a year later was probably no coincidence, but an outcome of the national renewal and confidence directly inspired by Pope John Paul II.

In the autumn of 1989, Solidarity, supported and advised throughout by the Pope and the Polish Catholic Church, played the pivotal role in bringing down the communist government and replacing it with a democracy so leading to the almost immediate collapse of the whole Soviet empire.

It was not only his leadership but also his personal character that particularly endeared Pope John Paul II to Poles.

His obvious love for his homeland, his enthusiasm for Polish tradition, and his delight in simple Polish tastes completely endeared him to Poles who were proud of the fact that he was one of us, a real Pole.

In Polish he had a knack of speaking directly and clearly in a way that really got through to people.

He also had the most marvellously dry sense of humour and his wry but apt comments and asides were endlessly repeated by gleeful Poles everywhere.

It is very sad that official translations often hid that side of his character from non-Poles.

For Poles here in Herefordshire and Worcestershire, as for Poles across the whole World, there is today an enormous sense of sorrow and loss.

We all know that there is now a great void at the heart of our Polish existence can never be filled.

He is truly irreplaceable. But we are also truly grateful that he was here with us and for us and that we had the opportunity to walk on this earth at the same time as one of the very, very greatest Poles in the long history of the nation.

His work on earth is done and the task for all Poles now is to remain true to his vision and his message of vision and love through faith both for Poland and the World.

Special services are expected at Catholic Churches across the West Midlands.

The Polish flag will fly at half mast at the Consulate of the Republic of Poland for the West Midlands in Kidderminster.

posted by: Oborski at 01:04 | link | comments (1) |

posted by: Oborski at 22:34 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:07 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 00:39 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 00:26 | link | comments |

Poles fill churches...

Poles stream into churches to pray for Pope John Paul II.Churches in the capital and the southern city of Krakow where Karol Wojtyla was bishop before becoming Pope in 1978 filled with worshippers in early hours as bulletins delivered the news that his condition was grave.

In the southern Tatra mountains, where the young Pope used to preach, hundreds took part in an all-night vigil. Hundreds of people crowded in and around the basilica in Wadowice , the southern Polish town where Karol Wojtyla was born in 1920.Crowds of students prayed for the Pope at the jasna Gora sanctuary in the southern city of Czestochowa famed for the Black Madonna icon which is said to have miraculous powers. The 84-year old Pope is highly revered in Poland, even by those who do not share some of his conservative views on family issues.

His first return visit to the then communist Poland as Pope in 1979 drew millions of people onto the streets. His passionate sermons inspired them to challenge the authorities.

His influence was a major factor behind the rise of the Solidarity movement a year later, the first non-communist trade union behind the "Iron Curtain" which won political power a decade later, hastening the collapse of the whole Soviet bloc.

Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, who became Poland's first non-communist president in 1990, said the Pope's death would be a blow to Poland and the world.

The Pope has been the ultimate moral authority for Poles during the 15 years of harsh reforms and often painful transformation from communism into a Western democracy.

A recent poll shows that Poles consider the Pope the most important personality of the last century and his election to the papacy in 1978 as more important than the fall of communism

posted by: Oborski at 00:17 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 15:15 | link | comments |

Text of Vatican statement on Pope John Paul II's health on Friday, 1 April 2005...

Yesterday afternoon, 31 March, as has been already announced, following a urinary infection, a state of septic shock and cardio-circulatory collapse set in.

The Holy Father was immediately assisted by the medical team in His Holiness' private apartments.

All appropriate therapeutic provisions and cardio-respiratory assistance were provided.

The Holy Father's will to remain in his apartments was respected. They are equipped with complete and efficient health facilities.

Late yesterday afternoon there was a temporary stabilisation of the clinical framework which, however, in the following hours evolved negatively.

The Holy Father's condition is being attentively monitored and watched over.

The Holy Father is conscious, lucid and tranquil. At 1917 (1717 GMT Thursday) he received the Holy Viaticum . At 0600 (0400 GMT) today, the Holy Father celebrated Holy Mass.

The cardinal secretary of state and the closest aides of the Holy Father are united with him in prayer and are following the clinical conditions of His Holiness.

The Pope is being assisted by his personal doctor Renato Buzzonetti, as well as two intensive care specialists, a cardiologist and an ear, nose and throat specialist as well as two nurses."

posted by: Oborski at 11:31 | link | comments |

Poles pray for John Paul II...
Listen

Concern is mounting over the health of Pope John Paul II, who appears to have suffered a heart attack and who is said to be 'gravely ill' after he suffered a heart attack. The news from the Vatican is that he has received last rites. Bogdan Zaryn talks to ordinary Polish citizens and analysts about the country's mood on hearing the news..

posted by: Oborski at 08:51 | link | comments |

Pope John Paul II's condition is "very serious," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls told reporters early Friday, the first time the Vatican has used such language to describe the pontiff's latest health crisis, CNN reports. Navarro-Valls said the pope had suffered "cardiocirculatory collapse and shock".

The spokesman said the pope remains lucid and serene and is being attended to in the Vatican, because it is his desire to remain in his residence and not return to the hospital.

The pontiff even prayed a Mass early Friday, Navarro-Valls said.

Earlier, the Vatican had said the pope appeared to be responding well to antibiotic treatment for a urinary tract infection that caused him to develop a fever.

"Cześć!"

Links

Archives

Counter

posted by: Oborski at 19:27 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 17:54 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:43 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:39 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:37 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:33 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:29 | link | comments (1) |

posted by: Oborski at 16:09 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:40 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:37 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:34 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:32 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:28 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 20:23 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 20:20 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 20:15 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 19:38 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 19:36 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 19:33 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:31 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:19 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 14:34 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 14:32 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 14:26 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:41 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:21 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 19:49 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 16:24 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 14:06 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:30 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:25 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:23 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:18 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:16 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:14 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 13:12 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 11:16 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 15:12 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 11:17 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:29 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 16:21 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 16:17 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 16:15 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 08:01 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 17:14 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 17:00 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:03 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:42 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 15:34 | link | comments |

A Tribute to Pope John Paul II

posted by: Oborski at 01:04 | link | comments (1) |

posted by: Oborski at 22:34 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 22:07 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 00:39 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 00:26 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 00:17 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 15:15 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 11:31 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 08:51 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 08:47 | link | comments |