Warsaw
Capital of Poland, on the Vistula. On 2 June 1979 Pope John Paul II celebrated Mass in its Victory Square, the first stop of his pilgrimage to Poland that year.
Warsaw stands on the Vistula in central Poland. John Paul II began his pilgrimage of June 1979 with a Mass in Victory Square, and in his homily called the city the capital of Poland and recalled its rising of 1944, in which it was buried under its own ruins (John Paul II, Homily at Victory Square (2 June 1979) 2–3b). See John Paul II and the Churches under Communism.
What happened here
- 1978 to 1979, firm dateJohn Paul II and the Churches under Communism
In October 1978 the cardinals elect the archbishop of Kraków as pope. He tells the world not to be afraid and to open the frontiers of states to Christ, and in June 1979 he preaches in Warsaw that Christ cannot be kept out of human history.