VISITS TO AIRLINE PERSONNEL, THEN CEMETERY AT RADZYMIN

VATICAN CITY, JUN 13, 1999 (VIS) - This afternoon at Warsaw's Okecie Airport, John Paul II met with 4,000 personnel of the Poland's national airline, LOT, including pilots, and flight crews, as well as several thousand members of ground crews, airport maintenance, technicians and air traffic controllers. LOT is celebrating both the 70th anniversary of its founding and the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw-Rome route.

"This meeting of ours is unusual," the Pope observed. "In fact, I do not often have the chance to meet people representing a professional group. ...This visit is prompted by a desire to repay, at least in part, a debt of gratitude to LOT and all the other airlines throughout the world with whom I fly constantly as a pilgrim."

In thanking the pilots and flight crews, the Holy Father asked them "to continue to care for the good name of Poland in the world. From above, the extraordinary beauty of creation is clearly seen, including the smallness and get the greatness of man - all of which is a manifestation of the infinite power and wisdom of the Creator."

He greeted ground crews, saying that their "work helps people who have to leave the earth, and not just in a physical sense. Often the experience of departure is accompanied by the sense of a loss of security and by inner disorientation. Therefore, your service of kindness is important: a friendly smile, a kind word, understanding and cordiality." He thanked those working in maintenance, stressing that "to a large extent you are responsible for the safety of passengers."

Lastly, Pope John Paul expressed "delight that for some years there have been chapels in four international airports in Poland where workers and travellers can find moments of silence and prayer."

At about 5:15 p.m., he left by helicopter for Radzymin, 20 kilometers northeast of Warsaw, to visit the local cemetery where Polish soldiers who died in 1920 and in 1939 are buried. Thousands of Polish soldiers, led by Marshal Pilsudski, died in 1920, victoriously defending Warsaw from an onslaught by Bolshevik Russia's Red Army. Buried in six cemeteries around Warsaw, the greatest number were interred in Radzymin.

In an impromptu speech after praying for those who died defending Poland, John Paul II said: "I was born in May 1920, at a time when the Russians were attacking Warsaw. From birth therefore, I owe a great debt of gratitude to those who fought and saved our homeland, often paying with their lives."

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