Vatican City, Mar 12, 2016 / 11:50 am
On Saturday the Vatican released a provisional schedule of Pope Francis' visit to Poland for World Youth Day. He will be in the central European nation July 27-31.
The Pope will arrive at Krakow-Balice airport July 27. He will meet with president Andrzej Duda and the nation's bishops. Later in the day, he will meet with Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow and greet the crowds from a window used often by St. John Paul II.
On July 28 the Pope is scheduled to visit Czestochowa, the home of the monastery of Jasna Gora, which holds an icon of a Black Madonna, the patroness of Poland. While there he will say Mass for the 1,050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland.
Francis will visit Auschwitz July 29, and later celebrate the Way of the Cross in Krakow. Auschwitz is the site of a Nazi death camp which sits roughly 40 miles from Krakow. At least 1.1 million people died in the camp during its years of operation, 1940-1945.