The Pope in Poland

Our journey together will be inspired by the motto: Stand firm in your faith, Benedict said after his plane touched down in Warsaw. He wants to honor the memory of John Paul II, and to pay homage to the country of his great predecessor.

I have to see him in person to fall in love with him, said Marianna Wasik, 75, who took a bus and a train from the town of Sierpl in the countryside for the visit.

But in this part of Europe, memory plays an unavoidable part, and that, too, shaped the itinerary for this four-day trip. It will include visits to Auschwitz and Birkenau, Nazi death camps where millions of Jews died in World War II.

(NY Times)