Countdown begins for World Youth Day in Kraków
PR dla Zagranicy
Jo Harper
26.07.2015 13:19
With 365 days to go before the start of the World Youth Day 2016, an on-line registation of pilgrims has begun for what is expected to be the largest ever gathering in the history of Kraków.
photo - EPA/TIZIANA FABI
Up to 2.5 million people are likely to attend the event. The opening mass with Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, the Archbishop of Kraków, will be held on 26 July 2016 at Błonia Meadow, close to Krakow’s city centre, the site of open-air mases celebrated in the last few decades by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
Two days later, a welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis will be held there, followed by the Way of the Cross service with the Pope the next day. On Saturday, 30 July, the Pope will be present at a night vigil and celebrate the concluding mass the next morning at Campus Misericordiae, at Brzegi, some 15 kilometres from Kraków.
The patrons of the World Youth Day 2016 are Saint John Paul II, who initiated the event in 1985, and Saint Faustina, known as the Apostle of Divine Mercy, whose ‘Diary’ has been translated into more than 30 languages.
The registration form (in five languages - Polish, Engish, Italian, French and Spanish) is available at: www.krakow2016.com. (mk/jh)