Poles remember a hero and a father
Poles, from President Aleksander Kwasniewski to soldiers and schoolgirls in uniform, filled Pilsudski Square in downtown Warsaw to say goodbye to a man considered a national hero.
Many others will bid farewell in person - an estimated 2 million Poles are expected to travel to Rome for John Paul’s funeral on Friday.
The altar in the Warsaw square was decorated with flowers in the Polish national colours - red and white - and the papal banner’s yellow and white. Across the capital, national and papal flags with black ribbons fluttered everywhere, signs of an official period of mourning to last until the pontiff’s funeral at the Vatican.
It was at this square that John Paul delivered a famous Mass in 1979 credited with giving courage to the anti-communist opposition, which formed the solidarity movement the next year and brought about the peaceful end of communism in 1989.
One young mourner held a photograph of John Paul with a black ribbon.
“We wanted to be with other people in this sorrow,” said Anna Plewa, 35, who with her two young children lit candles and placed flowers at the site.
“He showed us how to live. Sometimes he scolded us from the Vatican. He made us stop and look into our hearts. Now there will be no one to do this.”
