2.5 milion people on Papal Mass at Błonia

Close to 2.5 million people participated in Holy Mass celebrated by the Pope at Błonia in Kraków during which the Holy Father announced four new Beati.

The Pope called on everyone to imitate the attitude of mercy towards neighbours that the newly beatified poeple exhibited.
Also this time the Pope joked with the young. After the cries „Stay with us”, he responded, „I say, you are telling me to desert Rome!”
Groups of pilgrims began to arrive at the Cracow Commons (Błonia Krakowskie) as early as Saturday evening. Throughout the night pilgrims poured into the area from the railway station and parking lots for coaches. Close to 2.5 million faithful greeted the Holy Father especially warmly; cheers lasted for a good many moments.

At the beginning of Mass Cardinal Franciszek Macharski referred to the memorable Mass from before three years ago, when the Pope was unable to come. „With utmost joy and gratitude to the Good God, also for the fact that now we do not look at Franciszkańska, but at this altar of the Word and the Eucharist at which the Holy Father is present, we stand and remain in fidelity and love, just like at that hour of trial”, said the Cardinal.

After the act of penance, Cardinal Primate of Poland asked the Pope for the beatification of Archbishop Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński, Fr. Jan Balicki, Fr. Jan Beyzym, and Sr. Santia Szymkowiak. The biographies of the four venerable persons were read out by bishops of the dioceses the candidates for beatification came from. These were, respectively, Metropolitan of Warsaw, Cardinal Józef Glemp, Metropolitan of Przemyśl, Archbishop Józef Michalik, Metropolitan of Cracow, Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, and Metropolitan of Poznań, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki.
Referring to the fact that „there is no greater love than when someone lays down his life for his friends”, the Pope stressed that „When we realise this truth, we realise that Christ’s call to the love of one another patterned on his love sets us all the same measure. … God, by showing us His mercy, wants us to bear witness to Divine Mercy in today’s world”.
The four new Beati were shown by the Holy Father as magnificent examples of the implementation of mercy.
The Pope presented Blessed Archbishop Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński as an example of pastoral care for his Brothers in the Episcopate. He noted that Archbishop Feliński was deeply engaged in the defence of the national freedom. „This is necessary also today, when different forces – often under the guidance of a false ideology of freedom – try to take over this land for themselves. When the noisy propaganda of liberalism, of freedom without truth or responsibility, grows stronger in our country too, the Shepherds of the Church cannot fail to proclaim the one fail-proof philosophy of freedom, which is the truth of the Cross of Christ. This philosophy of freedom finds full motivation in the history of our nation”.
The Pope once again stressed the distance not only from the moral liberalism, which is destructive for the family and for human dignity, but also from the political and social liberalism, which is lacking in the concern with the needy.
At the end of the liturgy the Holy Father greeted youth. “The witness of men and women who live the Beatitudes is needed in every age”, said the Pope recalling his message from the International Youth Days in Toronto. The Holy Father paid a lot of attention to the youth and families connected with the Light and Life movement. “I have felt personally very close to the life style proposed to the young by the Servant of God Father Franciszek Blachnicki”, declared the Pope.
The Pope returned to the youth after his final blessing. When the faithful sang the song “Lord once stood on the shore”, the Pope expressed his gratitude for the song and admitted that it was in his ears when he heard the sentence of the conclave and that it “has guided him on the various paths of the Church”.
John Paul II thanked the Błonia for its hospitality. “My gratitude is due to the Błonia in Cracow for their hospitality on so many occassions and also today. God bless you! I would like to add ‘Until next time’, but this is entirely in God’s hands.” To the cries „See you again! Stay with us!” the Pope responded: „I entrust this wholly to the Divine Mercy”.
On the way back to the Archbishop’s Palace, in keeping with a longstanding tradition, the Pope’s car made a stop at the Main Market Square and the florists who have their stalls there presented him with a bouquet of flowers composed of 25 white and yellow roses. As they said, the roses did not have tall stems so that they can be easy to handle.