POLAND: KRAKOW: POPE JOHN PAUL II VISITS PARENTS' GRAVE

(9 Jun 1997) Natural Sound

As his tour of his homeland draws to a close, Pope John Paul the Second has visited the tomb of his parents in Krakow.

The pontiff also said Mass at the church where he gave his first service as a priest.

And later in the day he visited a new heart surgery clinic that has been named after him.

In what many believe will be his last visit to Poland, Pope John Paul the Second visited his parent's grave in Krakow on Monday.

There is no mention of the pope, but people visit the tomb to pay their respects to his family, even when the pontiff is not in town.

A choir sang as the 77-year-old kneeled before the tombstone and prayed.

The simple, granite gravestone is engraved with the names of his mother, father and brother.

Just 10 metres (25 feet) away are the graves of Red Army soldiers and a monument dedicated to their heroism in World War Two.

The pope lit a candle in front of the tomb.

Sprays of roses in the Polish and Vatican colours - red and white and yellow and white - decorated the modest tomb.

The pope began the day with a private Mass in a chapel at Wawel Royal Cathedral, where he held his first service as a priest in 1946.

Later in the day, he opened a new heart surgery clinic, that has been named after him.

The pontiff met with recent transplant patients and told them he understood what they were going through first hand.

The ageing pope has gone through a series of operations in recent years, including a hip replacement and removal of what the Vatican says was a benign colon tumour.

Many Poles fear this could be the last visit for John Paul.

But church officials suggested he may return next year, when he has been invited for the one-thousandth anniversary of the city of Gdansk on the Baltic coast.

The pope returns to Rome on Tuesday after spending 11 days in his homeland.

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