Krakow awaits us with open arms - pope on World Youth Day

Pope Francis' message for World Youth Day 2016 in Krakow was presented in Warsaw on Monday at the Polish Episcopate.

PAP © 2015 / Marcin Obara / Warszawa, 28.09.2015. Od lewej: sekretarz generalny KEP ks. bp Artur Miziński, Dorota Abdelmoula z komitetu organizacyjnego ŚDM Kraków 2016, Dorota Stolpe z Centrum Diecezjalnego ŚDM w Poznaniu, Katarzyna Kozioł z Centrum Diecezjalnego ŚDM w Siedlcach, podczas prezentacji orędzia papieża Franciszka na 31. Światowe Dni Młodzieży oraz przedstawienia stanu przygotowań do ŚDM Kraków 2016, 28 bm. w sekretariacie Konferencji Episkopatu Polski w Warszawie. (zuz) PAP/Marcin Obara PAP © 2015 / Marcin Obara

"Only a few months are left before we meet in Poland. Krakow, the city of Saint John Paul II and Saint Faustina Kowalska, is waiting for us with open arms and hearts", reads the pope's message posted on the Vatican website.

The pope pointed out that Saint John Paul II first called on young people from around the world to come together on Palm Sunday in the Holy Year of the Redemption (1983/1984). During the jubilee year 2000, over 2 million young people from around 165 countries gathered in Rome for the 15th World Youth Day, he added.

"I am sure that the Youth Jubilee in Krakow will be, as on those two previous occasions, one of the high points of this Holy Year", Pope Francis wrote.

World Youth Day, organised every two or three years, is an event launched by the late Pope John Paul II in 1985. In 2013 the event in Rio de Janeiro was attended by some 3.5 million people.

Poland is organising the event for the second time, on July 26-31, 2016. The theme of World Youth Day 2016 is "Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy". (PAP)

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