May 25-28 possible dates for papal visit to Poland

Rome, Italy, Jan 4, 2006 / 22:00 pm

A spokesman for Cardinal Josef Glemp of Poland announced this week on Polish television that Pope Benedict XVI will visit the country May 25-28.

Although the date has not been confirmed by the Holy See, the spokesman said the papal visit would begin in Warsaw, where the Pope would meet with President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.

Afterwards he would head to Czestochowa and then to Wadowice, where Pope John Paul II was born.

The Pope would then travel to Auschwitz, the site of a German concentration camp in World War II.  He would continue on to Lagiewniki and finally to Krakow.

Polish radio reported that a delegation from the Bishops’ Conference of Poland and officials from the Interior Ministry carried out visual inspections of every place the Pontiff would visit.  On January 2, the delegation, together with the chief of police, traveled to Czestochowa and on January 3 to Krakow, Auschwitz and Wadowice.  On January 10 a delegation from the Holy See is expected to arrive in Poland to carry out more preparations.