Places of Memory

(24 May 2006 RV) During his four day pastoral journey to Poland, Pope Benedict will visit Wadowice, where his predecessor John Paul II was born, Krakow, where he served as priest, bishop and cardinal, and religious shrines dear to the late Pope and Poles.

One of the main purposes of the trip is to urge Poles to defend their Christian heritage as they integrate into Europe.
However, perhaps the most moving appointment on his agenda is his visit to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkanau, near Krakow. Veronica Scarsbrick is in Poland following events and had time to make the short journey there..