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Inspection of Planned Papal Destinations
Jan. 3, Bielsko-Biała (PAP) – A team representing the Polish episcopate, the internal affairs and administration ministry, and the police visited Wadowice and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum on Tuesday. Both places may figure in the itinerary during Pope Benedict XVI’s May pilgrimage to Poland.
Father Robert Nęcek, spokesman for the Cracow archdiocese, informed PAP that this was the first inspection of possible papal visit sites within the archdiocese. The inspection was preliminary and non-binding. The sites are probable destinations for the papal pilgrimage, but the Holy See will make the final decision as to the itinerary.
PAP has learned from sources close to the Museum that a pilgrimage to the Auschwitz site is almost certain. Benedict XVI would visit both the Auschwitz I main camp and Auschwitz II-Birkenau.
He is unlikely to say mass at the site, despite the fact that the visit would fall on Sunday, May 28—the last day of his pilgrimage. Benedict XVI would say mass earlier in the day, in Cracow, from where he would travel to Wadowice and then the Auschwitz site, before returning to Cracow and flying from there back to the Vatican.
On Tuesday, the special inspection team visited the Basilica of the Offering of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and the Family Home of John Paul II in the late Pope’s hometown, which Benedict XVI will probably visit on May 28.
John Paul II visited the site of the Auschwitz German camp in 1979, and his hometown of Wadowice in 1979, 1991, and 1999.
In the morning, the team—consisting of the deputy minister of internal affairs and administration responsible for the uniformed services, Władysław Stasiak; central chief of police Marek Bieńkowski; and Polish episcopate steward Msgr. Jan Drob—inspected Waweł castle and the Błonia in Cracow, and the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy in Cracow-Łagiewniki. The team was in Częstochowa on Monday.
Cracow archdiocese spokesman Robert Nęcek told a PAP reporter in Cracow that there will probably be another tour of the pope’s probable Polish itinerary on January 10, with a Vatican representative along.
Pope Benedict’s first visit to Poland is planned for the last ten days of May, with the most probable dates being May 25-28. Plans call for the pope to visit Cracow, Warsaw, Częstochowa, the site of the Auschwitz German camp, and Wadowice (PAP)
