POPE MAKES UNSCHEDULED VISITS TO GLIWICE AND CZESTOCHOWA

VATICAN CITY, JUN 17, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul made an unscheduled visit today to Gliwice, 150 kilometers west of Krakow, stopping briefly to greet the pastors and faithful of the Church there whom he was unable to meet as planned last Tuesday evening when he was bedridden with a fever. Shortly after his arrival by helicopter, he recited the angelus in the presence of 500,000 faithful.

Afterwards he added another unscheduled stop, travelling to Czestochowa, 100 kilometers north of Krakow, to visit Poland's most revered shrine, Jasna Gora, also known as the Shrine of the Black Madonna. He arrived at 1 p.m. by helicopter.

"The path of my pilgrimage to my homeland could not omit the Shrine of Jasna Gora," said the Pope in his greetings to the estimated 250,000 pilgrims gathered in Czestochowa. "This place is so close to my heart and so close to each of you, dear brothers and sisters. We have grown used to coming here and to bringing our personal and family matters, as well as the vital issues of the nation, to the Mother of God's Son and the Mother of us all, just like our ancestors did for centuries."

"I wish to thank Mary," John Paul II added, "for the care extended in these days of my pastoral ministry in the Church of my homeland. Mary has been with us throughout this pilgrimage, interceding to her Son for spiritual gifts for us so that we may be able to 'do what He tells us'. I wish to thank her for every single spiritual and material good that is taking place on Polish soil.

"To the motherly care of Our Lady of Jasna Gora I entrust myself, the Church and all my compatriots, not excluding anyone. I entrust to her each Polish heart, each home and each family. We are all her children. May Mary be an example and guide us in our everyday, mundane work."

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