Poland rapturously celebrated on Thursday the 80th birthday of Pope John Paul II, the country's most famous son -- and nowhere more so than in his hometown of Wadowice.
Published:
21 May 2000 y., Sunday
It was here in southern Poland that the Holy Father was born Karol Wojtyla in 1920, taking up the cloth and rising to become archbishop of nearby Krakow before being elected Bishop of Rome in 1978.
The pope made an emotional pilgrimage to his native town last June during a 13-day marathon tour of his homeland, which many assume was the last for the ailing pontiff. Well over 90 percent of Poles are Catholic, and the country's media have been dominated for days by reports leading up to the pope's birthday.
The town of Wadowice itself, whose normal population is barely 15,000, was expecting twice that number for a special concert Thursday evening in the main square, bedecked with banners, with some wishing the pope will live to be 100.
The day began with a meeting of seven to 10 of Karol Wojtyla's classmates, who attended morning mass in the Church of the Virgin Mary where the pope was baptized and prayed twice daily, meters (yards) from the house where he was born. The house has been turned into a papal museum, and a special exhibition has been put together for his birthday.
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
Hundreds of New Yorkers enjoy a dip in rubbish dumpsters that have been converted into swimming pools as part of the city's summer initiative.
more »
On 19 July, a school, which had been reconstructed with the funding from Lithuania’s Special Mission in Afghanistan, was opened in the village of Suri, the Zabul Province in the South of Afghanistan.
more »
Self-employed workers and their partners will enjoy better social protection – including the right to maternity leave for the first time – under new EU legislation that enters into force today.
more »
A 45 U.S. dollar garage sale purchase turns out to be long lost Ansel Adams negatives worth 200 million dollars.
more »
A Turkish toddler survives a three-floor fall from a balcony when he lands on a stack of plastic pipes.
more »
Around 200 Magellan penguins, most of them dead, wash up on Uruguay's beaches.
more »
Europeans are calling on Member States to boost their efforts to improve road safety, according to a survey published by the European Commission today.
more »
With an increase in life expectancy in China has come an accompanying rise in dementia cases, which may leave the younger generation struggling to cope with treatment and care.
more »
These baby sea turtles should be swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, but instead they are recovering at the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies in Mississippi.
more »
Reviving the Latin American tradition of the afternoon siesta, a hotel in Argentina brings siesta to the corporate workforce.
more »