THE POPE BLESSES THE NEW CHURCH OF THE SHRINE OF LICHEN

VATICAN CITY, JUN 7, 1999 (VIS) - At 8 a.m. today, the Pope blessed the new church of the Shrine of the Madonna of Lichen, constructed in 1858 following the apparition of the Virgin in 1813 to a Polish soldier in the Napoleonic armies, gravely wounded in the battle of Leipzig and, in 1850, to a local shepherd.

Prior to blessing the new church, John Paul II indicated that "the scene of the Visitation (of the Virgin to Her cousin Elizabeth) is particularly near to our hearts here in this place so loved by Mary. Every shrine, in fact, is in some way the house of Elizabeth visited by the Mother of God's Son, who comes so that she may be close to her beloved people."

"Gathered today for this morning prayer at the Shrine of Lichen, at the feet of our Lady of Sorrows, let all of us - bishops, priests, consecrated men and women, lay faithful - implore her to intercede for us with her Son, seeking to obtain for us a living faith, ... a strong faith that shrinks before no difficulty, suffering or lack of successn, ... a mature faith without reservation, a faith that cooperates with the holy Church in the authentic building up of the Mystical Body of Christ."

During his visit to the shrine, a bronze monument of the Pope - 10 meters high and weighing eight tons - was inaugurated. After the blessing, he travelled by helicopter to the city of Bydgoszcz, where at 10:30 a celebration of the Eucharist took place.

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