POLAND: POPE MARKS THE 1,000TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST ADALBERT'S MARTYRDOM WITH OPEN AIR MASS IN GNIEZNO.

Record ID: 639967

  • Title: POLAND: POPE MARKS THE 1,000TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST ADALBERT'S MARTYRDOM WITH OPEN AIR MASS IN GNIEZNO.
  • Date: 2nd June 1997
  • Summary: GNIEZNO, POLAND (JUNE 2, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV/GV: NIGHT SHOTS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II ARRIVING IN MOBILE/ CROWDS LINE STREETS (5 SHOTS) 0.36 2. GV: CROWDS WAVING AND CHANTING, GREETING POPE 0.39 3. GV: POPE ON BALCONY 0.45 4. LV: CHURCH STEEPLE LIT UP 0.49 GNIEZNO, POLAND (JUNE 3, 1997) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 5. LV: CROWD GATHERED FOR THE CEREMONY 0.57 6. GV/MV/PAN: THE SEVEN PRESIDENTS WAITING FOR THE POPE: PRESIDENT OF POLAND - ALEKSANDER KWASNIEWSKI; GERMANY - ROMAN HERZOG; HUNGARY - ARPAD GONCZ; CZECH REPUBLIC - VACLAV HAVEL; SLOVAK REPUBLIC - MICHAL KOVAC; LITHUANIA - ALGIRDAS BRAZAUSKAS; UKRAINE - LEONID KUCHMA (2 SHOTS) 1.13 7. GV: POPE WAVING, GREETING THE CROWDS 1.18 8. MV: NUNS CLAPPING 1.23 9. LV: WIDE OF POPE'S STAGE WITH POPE SPEAKING/ CROWD (2 SHOTS) 1.39 10. GV: POPE LEANING ON STAFF 1.45 11. LV/PAN: CROWD GATHERED WITH POLISH ARMY 1.52 12. GV: POPE SEATED, SPEAKING TO THE CROWD 2.17 13. SV: ROW OF BISHOPS/ FLAGS WAVED (2 SHOTS) 2.24 14. GV: BEATIFICATION OF ST ADALBERG, WITH PROCESSION/ VARIOUS OF CEREMONY/ SUIT OF ARMOUR (6 SHOTS) 2.55 15. SV: PRESIDENTS SHAKING HANDS 3.08 Initials s.3 - p.3 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
  • Embargoed: 17th June 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GNIEZNO, POLAND
  • City:
  • Country: Poland
  • Reuters ID: LVAE4HUADITXWE76WL2Z49ASFN89
  • Story Text: INTRO: Pope John Paul II has said that a new wall of economic and political selfishness had arisen in Europe, threatening the unity of the continent as seriously as the Berlin Wall before communism's fall.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Pope delivered his forceful message on Tuesday (June 3) at a big open air mass in Gniezno, Poland's first capital.

    The ceremony was held to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the martyrdom of St Adalbert, a missionary from Bohemia who helped Christianise Poland and other countries.

    The presidents of countries whose Christian roots were affected by St Adalbert's evangelisation -- Poland, Germany, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Lithuania and Ukraine -- attended the service and were due to have a private meeting with the Pope later.

    A rapturous crowd of some 250,000 people on a rolling hillside below the 14th century Gniezno cathedral, traditional seat of Polish Catholicism, turned out to see the 77-year-old Pontiff.

    This was the fourth day of an 11-day pilgrimage to his homeland.

    Since the emotional trip began on Saturday (May 31), the Pope has attracted almost a million people who have flocked to his masses to hear his calls for a spiritual renewal in post-communist Poland as it embraces economic and political freedom.

    While thanking God for the "great gift of freedom" granted to the nations of Europe with the fall of communism after decades of repression, the Pope declared: "The recovery of the right to self-determination and growth of political and economic freedom are not sufficient to rebuild European unity." Before the mass, the Pope prayed before the relics of St Adalbert in a tomb in the cathedral.

    John Paul, who has suffered a series of health problems in recent years, has been holding up relatively well since he started the gruelling trip which will take him to 12 cities and towns before he returns to Rome on June 10.


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