On June 1 (Sunday) this year, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchcinski took part in Thanksgiving Day in Warsaw. In front of the Temple of Divine Providence in Warsaw's Wilanów district, Secretary of State of the Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin presided over a solemn Mass. on this day Poles thanked God for the canonization of John Paul II and the 25 years of freedom regained in 1989.
Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz expressed his conviction at the beginning of the Mass that Poles are aware of John Paul II's contribution to the 25 years of freedom regained in 1989. - Without the election of John Paul II to the See of Peter, the celebrated silver jubilee of freedom would have been much shorter and more modest - The Warsaw metropolitan stated. John Paul II could be called "the patron saint of your freedom" - Cardinal Parolin said in a sermon.
The Secretary of State of the Holy See stressed that John Paul II made a significant contribution to Poland achieving freedom 25 years ago. He thanked God for his great pontificate and the "beauty of holiness" that the whole world admires. He also gave thanks for the Primate of the Millennium, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, who, he said. "with great courage he faced the difficult times of the communist regime, setting an example of exemplary love for Christ and the Church" - without him there would be no Pope-Pole.
Cardinal Parolin also referred to important events in Polish history - two centuries of Poles' struggle for freedom, which he called "the Polish way of the cross to freedom." - Your victories came through the cross - he said.
The solemn Mass, along with Cardinal Parolin and Cardinal Nycz, was concelebrated by, among others, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz - Metropolitan of Krakow, Apostolic Nuncio to Poland Archbishop Celestino Migliore, Primate of Poland senior Archbishop Jozef Kowalczyk, and Secretary of the Polish Episcopal Conference Primate-nominate Archbishop Wojciech Polak. Bishop Cyril Klimovich of Siberia and Jan Ozga of Cameroon also came. The liturgy was celebrated in Latin and partly in Polish.
Source: Archdiocese of Warsaw
