Masses were held in 40 churches throughout the country were filled with massive football club flags, flairs were lit in front of the churches, and hundreds prayed for the Polish homeland, the victims of abortion, and for aid in fighting moral weakness. Early every January over the last few years, football fans have held a traditional pilgrimage to Częstochowa where the revered Black Madonna sanctuary is located.
This year, however, the pilgrims were unable to continue their tradition due to coronavirus restrictions. Instead, a symbolic mass was held in Częstochowa with the participation of representatives of football fan associations. Yet, what also happened exceeded the expectations of the pilgrimage’s organizers — throughout Poland, in 40 churches, pilgrimage masses were held. And not just in Poland, but also in Polish churches in Lithuania and Germany.
Father Jarosław Wąsowicz
If we do not raise another generation, as befits Poles, there will be no one to protect Poland and values which have previously allowed our country to survive storms for centuries.
The patrons of this year’s pilgrimage were Polish heroes Captain Witold Pilecki, Colonel Łukasz Ciepliński and the victims of the 1981 Martial Law period under communist rule. Father Jarosław Wąsowicz, who conducted the mass in Częstochowa, emphasized that the church and the faithful had to fight for every young person because such large numbers of youth have been deceived by a “perverse ideology”.
“If we do not raise another generation, as befits Poles, there will be no one to protect Poland and values which have previously allowed our country to survive storms for centuries,”
he said.
He appealed to the gathered football fans, stressing that faithful could not be passive and yield in the fight for the life of unborn children along with people with disabilities, who cannot face the challenges stemming from their difficult situation alone.
“Another storm is coming through our country full of dangerous thunder and evil lightning. We must defend our homes, families and our entire homeland from its pernicious consequences. You cannot be absent from this battle,”
he said in context of recent pro-abortion demonstrations in Poland. Title image: The football fans of Górnik Wałbrzych, source: niezalezna.pl
