Pope's Right-Hand Man Returns
Pope John Paul II's closest companion Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz will be formally welcomed back into the Cracovian fold this Saturday with a sonorous inaugural mass in Wawel Cathedral.
The man who served John Paul as secretary in Rome for twenty five years, and who met the Holy Father whilst skiing in the Tatra mountains many years before, will assume one of the most prestigious posts in Catholic Poland - the archbishopric of Cracow. Dziwisz succeeds the respected Cardinal Franciszek Macharski, who took over from John Paul following the Vatican elections of 1978.
Saturday's inauguration will begin at 10.15am at Wawel Cathedral, Poland's national shrine. This will be followed by a procession down Kanonicza and Grodzka Streets to the Main Market Square. There, in front of St.Mary's Church, a second mass will be held for the Cracovian faithful (c.11.40am).
Cracow has been an archbishopric since the tenth century.