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Catholic World News News Feature

Poland anxiously awaits Pope's visit, Archbishop Dziwisz says December 05, 2005

During a December 3 meeting with Polish bishops who were making their ad limina visit, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the importance of the "new evangelization" championed by Pope John Paul II. He encouraged the Polish bishops to ensure that their priests are well formed for pastoral ministry, and lay people are inspired to bring Christian principles into public life.

At the conclusion of the Pope's talk, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, the longtime personal secretary to Pope John Paul II, told the new Pontiff that the people of Poland "are anxious to see you," as he renewed the invitation for Benedict XVI to visit Poland.

Recalling Pope John Paul's frequent references to the "new evangelization," Pope Benedict said that bishops should take the primary responsibility for that task. In doing so, he continued, they must ensure the "quality of formation in seminaries." The Pontiff added that seminaries should provide for the moral formation of future priests as well as their intellectual training; he pointed to the recent Instruction from the Congregation for Catholic Educations, barring admission of homosexuals to seminaries, and asked that it be carefully enacted. The Pope also noted that "the process of spiritual and intellectual formation does not end in the seminary," and called for careful efforts to continue pastoral care for priests. While the hierarchy and the clergy should not be involved in partisan politics, the Pope said, lay Catholics should be actively involved in public life, to promote "the moral renewal of society." They should be encouraged by their pastors, he said, to "do so publicly, both in political debates and in the communications media."

Plans for a visit by Benedict XVI to Poland are well advanced, and informed Vatican officials expect the trip to take place in June 2006. During an interview broadcast on Polish television in October, the Pope expressed his own desire to make the trip, and his expectation that June dates would be chosen.

Archbishop Dziwisz, who spoke as the ranking representative of the visiting Polish prelates, thanked Pope Benedict for "your adherence to the person and the work of the Servant of God, John Paul II." He emphasized the importance of the former Cardinal Ratzinger as a trusted adviser to the late Pontiff, and said the people of Poland cherish Benedict XVI both for supporting John Paul II and for his current work as Vicar of Christ.

Having met with the Polish bishops, the Pope will meet on December 9 with the country's outgoing President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who is making a farewell visit before he steps down on December 23. Lech Kaczynski, the current mayor of Warsaw, won the October 23 election to replace him as president. Kaczynski is expected to visit the Pope sometime in January, after he is sworn in.