World Youth Day pilgrims from the Diocese of Bridgeport are keeping busy in the days leading up to the Holy Father’s July 27 arrival in Poland. The 231 pilgrims from the Bridgeport Diocese arrived in Poland last Friday, July 22.
They where they were met by guide and boarded private motor coaches for a brief city tour of Warsaw and a welcome dinner. Pilgrims stayed at the Mazurkas Hotel & Conference Center.
Click here to read a message from Pope Francis from CNS
Saturday was a day of retreat for pilgrims to prepare for the coming week. In the evening, pilgrims participated in a lively “WYD Welcome Party” at the hotel, which included a Polish barbeque, prayer, a concert, Eucharistic adoration, games and a keynote by noted Catholic speaker Chris Stefanick.
After breakfast on Sunday, pilgrims departed Warsaw for Czestochowa to visit Jasna Gora, the monastery that is home to the Black Madonna icon. Pilgrims attended Mass there and then continued to Krakow after a brief walk in Jordana Park. Once in Krakow, the official site of World Youth Day 2016, pilgrims checked in to the Oleandry hostel.
Monday saw the pilgrims in a somber, prayerful state at Auschwitz, the German concentration camp where millions lost their lives, including Saints Maximilian Kolbe and Edith Stein.
Pilgrims then celebrated Mass and prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet in five languages at the Church of Divine Mercy (in Polish, Sanktuarium Miłosierdzia Bozego Księza Pallotyni).
World Youth Day pilgrims will greet the Holy Father, Pope Francis, on this Thursday, July 28, and will return to Connecticut on Monday, August 1.
For the most up-to-date information on what the Diocese of Bridgeport’s pilgrims are doing, check out the diocese’s WYD Facebook page.
