Polish pilgrims celebrate after hearing the news that the next World Youth Day will be hosted by Krakow, Poland in 2016. Credit: Estefania Aguirre/CNA.
Posted on 07/28/2013 9:32:42 AM PDT by NYer
.- “The next World Youth Day in the year 2016 will be in Krakow, in Poland!” the Pope said at the close of Sunday Mass in Rio July 28.
The event is sure to attract millions.
Bl. Pope John Paul II was Archbishop of Krakow before his election to the papacy. The archdiocese has about 1.5 million Catholics and over 1,100 diocesan priests across 439 parishes, according to the website Catholic Hierarchy.
Cardnal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the present Archbishop of Krakow, was personal secretary to John Paul II.
Poland has over 38 million people, about 90 percent of whom are Catholic, the CIA World Factbook says.
Poland is one of the most Catholic countries in Europe. Though the nation remained staunchly Catholic under Soviet-imposed atheistic communism, and took special pride in the papacy of John Paul II, the country has become somewhat more secularized in the last two decades. Weekly church attendance has dropped below 40 percent.
The choice of Krakow marks a return to Europe, which has hosted the global youth event three of the last six times.
Madrid, Spain hosted the World Youth Day in 2011 while Sydney, Australia hosted the event in 2008 and Cologne, Germany hosted the event in 2005. Toronto, Canada hosted it in 2002 while Rome hosted World Youth Day 2000.
Ping!
THANK-YOU in SHOUTOUT for posting it! God Bless!
Last week, I did some resarch out of interest to see a little bit ahead where the “next” WYD would go ahead. Read that Kracow was in the lead to be the next hosts for at first 2015, figuring to remember its founder, who will soon be declared a saint by the end of the year, Blessed John Paul II, it will be about 10 years since he went home to God. Off by year, but that is okay.
It’s a charming unspoiled town. Good choice I suppose.
Krakow is a very historic town because unlike most other central European towns, it was spared from most of the ravages of World War II. As such, it you want to see historic old buildings, this is the city to visit.
LOVE Krakow. Came close to moving there.
WOW that Pope John Paul 2 former hood
Great food, beer and pastries can be had there!
Oh, this is preposterous!
Here is the poll of the CBOS, perhaps the most liberal and frankly speaking one of the most reliable public opinion research centers published by one of the most liberal periodicals, Newsweek, which is very very far from the Catholic Church. So, during JPII papacy, ca.20 years ago, 94.6% declared themselves as Catholics and now it is 93.1%, which is actually within the error margin.
While it is true to say that weekly church attendance has dropped, it is actually 52% now, whereas 20 years ago it was 58%. That "40% and below" must have been born in a sick anticlerical brain. (LOL)
Aha, one more thing, those on a two-week basis raised from 34% to 38%...
See the source: http://spoleczenstwo.newsweek.pl/cbos—polacy-to-katolicy,90632,1,1.html
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