Pope John Paul II celebrates his first papal mass in Warsaw

Appointment of the bishop of Cracow Karol Wojtyła as the Pope on 16 October 1978 kindled great enthusiasm throughout the entire Polish society. The communist authorities yielded under pressure and agreed to the Pope’s visit in Poland (2-10 June 1979). The Holy Mass celebrated on Victory Square in Warsaw was attended by 500,000 people. That was when John Paul II uttered those famous words: “And I cry – I who am a son of the land of Poland and who am also Pope John Paul II, I cry from all the depths of this Millennium [...]: Let your Spirit descend! Let your Spirit descend! And renew the face of the earth. The face of this Land!” The visit was instrumental in shaping the social mood in Poland, contributing to the outbreak of strikes and the establishment of Solidarity in 1980.