CRACOW -- Pope Francis celebrated the 1050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland at Mass on Thursday, with hundreds of thousands of people gathered together in the southern Polish city of Czestochowa, the spiritual heart of Poland, on the second day of World Youth Day 2016. 

 The Pope was scheduled to return to Cracow on Thursday afternoon for one of the most important parts of World Youth Day, the official opening ceremony which traditionally takes place in Jordan Park which in Cracow’s vast meadow, Blonia. 

 Thursday’s Mass will be led in both Polish and Latin, with thousands of priests and bishops coming together to participate, both from Poland and other countries. Given the national significance of this traditional event, the Polish President Andrzej Duda will be present, along with other important leaders of the country.

 The Mass, in occasion of the 1050th anniversary of the baptism of Poland, is the Pope’s opportunity to address the Polish nation, as well as Catholics from far and wide. “Giving to others, regardless of distances, living humbly and embracing everyday life, this is purely divine,” Pope Francis said to those who had come together to celebrate Mass. 

 Pope Francis spoke out against terrorism, on Wednesday, in the aftermath of the murder of a priest in Rouen by French jihadists and more generally as the world mourns yet more terrorist attacks in recent days. “The world is at war, in pieces. There was the war of 1914 with its methods, then the Great War of 1939 to 1945, and now this. It is not organic, organised yes, but not organic. But it is war. This holy priest, who died in the very moment in which he was offering a prayer for peace, is one, but how many Christians, how many more innocent people, how many more children, will die?” He went on to say “this is not a war of religion. Faiths want peace.”

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