"I CONSECRATED THE WHOLE CHURCH TO THE VIRGIN OF CZESTOCHOWA"

VATICAN CITY, JUN 23, 1999 (VIS) - In this morning's general audience, held in St. Peter's Square, the Pope recalled his recent apostolic trip to Poland, which took place 20 years after his first visit as Pope, in June 1979.

During this pastoral visit, the Pope said, "together with the Church in Poland, I shared in the millennium celebrations of two events that lie at the origins of its history: the canonization of Saint Adalbert and the institution of the first metropolitan see of Gniezno with its three suffragan dioceses of Kolobrzeg, Krakow and Wroclaw. Furthermore, I had the opportunity of closing the Second National Plenary Synod and of proclaiming a new saint, as well as numerous blesseds."

After recalling that the "common thread of these days was the Gospel passage on the Beatitudes," the Holy Father remarked that he had had the chance to visit "cities that conserve the indelible memory of the devastation of the Second World War, of the mass executions and the terrible deportations. Only faith in God, who is love and mercy, has rendered possible their material and moral reconstruction."

The Holy Father indicated that before his return to Rome, at the feet of the Virgin of Czestochowa, "I renewed the dedication (to Her) of my life and my petrine ministry. To Her I consecrated the Church in Poland and in the whole world. From her I entreated the precious gift of peace for all humanity and solidarity between peoples."

"In the course of my journey, I had various occasions to give thanks to God for the transformations that have come about in Poland in the last twenty years in the name of liberty and solidarity. I did so in Gdansk, the city that symbolizes the Solidarity movement."

John Paul II concluded by saying that, in the very days that the European Parliament was being elected, he had prayed "for the 'old' continent, that it might continue to be a beacon of civilization and authentic progress, rediscovering its spiritual roots and employing to the full the potential of the peoples of which it is composed, from the Urals to the Atlantic."

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