Pope John Paul II was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005. He was elected pope by the second papal conclave of 1978, which was called after John Paul I, who had been elected in August to succeed Pope Paul VI, died after 33 days. Cardinal Wojtyła was elected on the third day of the conclave and adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him. Born in Poland, John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century and the second-longest-serving pope in modern history.
Pope Benedict XVI is a retired prelate of the Catholic Church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Benedict chose to be known by the title "pope emeritus" upon his resignation.
The Polish Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Poland, is part of the Roman Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome, and the Episcopal Conference of Poland. There are 41 Catholic dioceses of the Latin Church and two eparchies of the Eastern Churches in Poland. These comprise about 10,000 parishes and religious orders. There are 33 million registered Catholics in Poland. The primate of the Church is Wojciech Polak, Archbishop of Gniezno. According to 2015 demographics, 92.9% of Poland's population is Roman Catholic.
Stanisław Jan Dziwisz is a Polish prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Kraków from 2005 until 2016. He was created a cardinal in 2006. He was a long-time and influential aide to Pope John Paul II, a friend of Pope Benedict XVI, and an ardent supporter of John Paul II's beatification.
World Youth Day (WYD) is an event for young people organized by the Catholic Church that was initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. Its concept has been influenced by the Light-Life Movement that has existed in Poland since the 1960s, where during summer camps Catholic young adults over 13 days of camp celebrated a "day of community". For the first celebration of WYD in 1986, bishops were invited to schedule an annual youth event to be held every Palm Sunday in their dioceses. It is celebrated at the diocesan level annually—in most places on Palm Sunday from 1986 to 2020, and from 2021 on Christ the King Sunday—and at the international level every two to three years at different locations. The 1995 World Youth Day closing Mass in the Philippines set a world record for the largest number of people gathered for a single religious event with 5 million attendees— a record surpassed when 6 million attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the Philippines 20 years later in 2015.
The Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ is a Roman Catholic clerical religious order made up of priests and candidates for the priesthood established by Marcial Maciel in Mexico in 1941. Maciel was also Director General of the congregation for over 60 years until forced to step down in January 2005 as a result of a child sexual abuse scandal.
Górnik Zabrze is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Polish Championship titles together with Ruch Chorzów. The club was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. Górnik holds the record for winning the most consecutive Polish Championship titles (5) and Polish Cup titles (5). In addition, the club was 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up.
The Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, Poland, is a shrine dedicated to the Virgin Mary and one of the country's places of pilgrimage. The image of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa, also known as Our Lady of Częstochowa, to which miraculous powers are attributed, is one of Jasna Góra's most precious treasures.
Jan Jakub Twardowski was a Polish poet and Catholic priest. He was a chief Polish representative of contemporary religious lyrics. He wrote short, simple poems, humorous, which often included colloquialisms. He joined observations of nature with philosophical reflections.
The 17th World Youth Day 2002 was a Catholic youth festival held July 23 to 28, 2002, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. World Youth Day is a celebration of faith begun by Pope John Paul II held on an international level every two to three years, and WYD2002 was the 10th such event. Although WYD is designed for Catholics, it attracts sizable numbers of youths from other faiths and denominations and was presented as a multi-faith celebration of young people from all over the world.
Tomasz Rafał Lis(listen) is a Polish journalist and former TV anchor of “TVN Fakty” and “Wydarzenia” ("Events").
Explo '72 was an evangelistic conference sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, planned and directed by Paul Eshleman. Explo '72 has been called the most visible event of the 1970s Jesus movement, and came to be associated with the same, even though its primary attendees were not directly involved in that movement.
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Zielona Góra-Gorzów is a Latin rite suffragan diocese in the Ecclesiastical province of Archdiocese of Szczecin-Kamień in Lubuskie, Poland.
World Youth Day 2000 was a Catholic youth festival held from August 15–20, 2000 in Rome, Italy.
Jan Wojciech Góra OP was a Dominican, Roman Catholic Priest, Doctor of Theology, academic and chaplain. Since 1997, he had been the organiser of the Polish Youth Meeting Lednica 2000 at the Lednica Fields and the Primate Days in Prudnik dedicated to the cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. Animator for the academic chaplaincy centre "Respublica Dominicana" in Jamna. Author of numerous books and articles.
Christ the King is a statue of Jesus Christ in Świebodzin, western Poland, completed on 6 November 2010. The figure is 33 metres (108 ft) tall, the crown is 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall, and along with its mound, it reaches 52.5 metres (172 ft) overall. It took five years in total to construct and cost around $1.5 million to build, which was collected from donations of the 21,000 residents of the town. The project was conceived and led by Sylwester Zawadzki, a retired Polish priest. It is the second tallest statue of Jesus in the world, after Jesus Buntu Burake in Indonesia.
Bronna Góra is the name of a secluded area in present-day Belarus where mass killings of Polish Jews were carried out by Nazi Germany during World War II. The location was part of the eastern half of occupied Poland, which had been invaded by the Soviet Union in 1939 in agreement with Germany, and two years later captured by the Wehrmacht in Operation Barbarossa. It is estimated that from May 1942 until November of that year, during the most deadly phase of the Holocaust in Poland, some 50,000 Jews were murdered at Bronna Góra forest in death pits. The victims were transported there in Holocaust trains from Nazi ghettos, including from the Brześć Ghetto and the Pińsk Ghetto, and from the ghettos in the surrounding area, as well as from Reichskommissariat Ostland.
The 1991 World Youth Day was held on 10–15 August 1991 in Jasna Góra in Częstochowa, Poland. The choice of another European city after Santiago de Compostela meant that, so far unique, two consecutive world days were held in the "old continent". It was celebrated in the Pope's native country. The theme can be summarized in the sentences You have received a spirit of sonship and It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. 1.6 million people gathered on the final Mass.
World Youth Day 1984 was an international meeting promoted by Pope John Paul II at the extraordinary Holy Year of the Redemption. It was the first large youth gathering promoted by the Catholic Church. From that experience came the idea of the World Youth Days which since then have been held, every two or three years, in different countries of the world.
World Youth Day 1985 was a meeting on the occasion of the International Youth Year held in Rome on March 30 and 31 1985 and it was the second great international meeting promoted by the Catholic Church and later named World Youth Day. This was considered the birth of these events, which would begin to be called of this way on the next year.
