On April 14 in Gniezno and on April 15 and 16 in Poznan will be held the main celebrations of the Jubilee of 1050 years of the Baptism of Poland. 1200 guests have been invited, including President Andrzej Duda, the government and parliamentarians, and the main event will be the National Assembly. Details of the celebrations were presented on January 20 at the Episcopal Secretariat in Warsaw. Speakers at the joint press conference included Polish Primate Wojciech Polak, Chairman of the Polish Bishops' Conference Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, and Speakers of the Sejm and Senate.

- The millennium celebrations of the Baptism of Poland, organized in 1966, were disrupted by the communist authorities. Meanwhile, now the key word to understand this year's celebrations is normalisation. This is the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland and the 1050th anniversary of Polish statehood, therefore among us there are representatives of both ecclesiastical and state authorities', said the Episcopate spokesman Fr Paweł Rytel-Andrianik.

Marek Kuchciński, Speaker of the Sejm, said that the celebrations would be a historically significant event for the entire Polish nation and state. They will be the clearest symbol and factual confirmation of the scale of changes that have taken place in Polish social life. - The Parliament of the independent Republic of Poland in fact for the first time reaches back to the oldest foundations of the history of our statehood, inseparably connected with Christianity, recalling the political decisions made in 966 and the Millennium in 1966. - said the Speaker of the Sejm. He also argued that there would be no good change without the renewal of the moral order based on Christianity and without including the history of Christianity in the Polish lands in the history of our state and nation. Politics as a prudent activity for the common good cannot be based only on the realisation of interests but it should also have a moral sense, especially in today's world. The universal Church was the only depository of values which created Polishness. It often replaced the nonexistent state, preserving the national heritage and was a shelter and protector for national insurgents, members of independence movements in both world wars and anti-communist opposition activists.

The Chancellery of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland is preparing an occasional publication entitled Christianity in the History of Poland and Poles (966-2016). By means of content and form, word and image, it will tell in historical terms about institutional links between the universal Church and Polish statehood, about the influence of the Church's mission on social processes on Polish lands, and about the role of worship and rituals in the public space.

source: episkopat.pl

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