A Pilgrimage to Poland

Our pilgrimage begins this evening with departure from Washington Dulles International Airport. We board KLM Flight 652, departing at 5:40 PM for our overnight transatlantic crossing to Amsterdam, where we arrive at 7:10 AM the following morning.

After arriving in Amsterdam, we connect to KLM Flight 1313, departing at 9:55 AM and arriving in Warsaw at 11:40 AM. We are met by our local guide and motorcoach and transfer to our hotel in the heart of the city. After the long journey, pilgrims have time to settle in before gathering for a welcome dinner, where Father offers a blessing on our pilgrimage and we begin to know our fellow pilgrims. Overnight in Warsaw.

We begin the day with breakfast, followed by Holy Mass at the Church of Saint Stanisław Kostka. Here we venerate the tomb of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, the courageous priest martyred by the Communist secret police in 1984, whose witness of faith was deeply tied to the pontificate of Pope Saint John Paul II. We continue through Warsaw’s beautifully restored Old Town, visiting the Church of Saint Anna and the historic Piłsudski Square. The afternoon takes us to Niepokalanów, the Franciscan monastery founded and led by Saint Maximilian Kolbe, where he lived, worked, and printed his beloved Catholic publications before his arrest and deportation to Auschwitz. We return to Warsaw for dinner and overnight.

After breakfast and morning Mass, we depart Warsaw for the royal city of Kraków — the heart of Catholic Poland and the city where Karol Wojtyła spent his formative years as student, seminarian, priest, and bishop. The journey takes approximately four hours, with a rest stop en route. Upon arrival we check into our hotel in the Kraków city center. This evening we enjoy a festive dinner in the Old Town featuring traditional Polish cuisine accompanied by a private live folk music performance.

Today we follow the path of the young Karol Wojtyła through the streets and churches of Kraków, tracing his journey from student to Pope. Our guided walking tour includes Saint Florian’s Church (where we will have Mass), the magnificent Market Square — the largest medieval market square in Europe — the Basilica of Saint Mary with its breathtaking carved altarpiece, and Wawel Hill, the spiritual heart of Poland, with a visit to the Royal Cathedral and Castle. The afternoon is free for personal exploration, prayer, or rest.

We begin the morning at the Divine Mercy Shrine in the Łagiewniki neighborhood of Kraków — one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in the world. After Mass we visit the convent chapel where Saint Faustina Kowalska lived, worked, and died, and venerate the miraculous image of the Merciful Jesus and her sacred relics. The great new Basilica of Divine Mercy, consecrated by Pope Saint John Paul II during his 2002 pilgrimage to Poland, towers nearby. Not far from the shrine is the quarry where a young Karol Wojtyła labored as a manual worker during the Nazi occupation. In the afternoon, we descend into the extraordinary Wieliczka Salt Mine — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — winding through three underground levels to the stunning Saint Kinga’s Chapel, where every element, from chandeliers to altarpieces, is carved entirely from salt.

We spend the day visiting two of the most personally significant pilgrimage sites in the life of Pope Saint John Paul II. Our first stop is Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, Poland’s second most beloved pilgrimage destination and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This extraordinary seventeenth-century Calvary village features a Bernardine monastery complex modeled on the topography of Jerusalem, with a network of chapels and wayside shrines tracing the Via Crucis. We celebrate Holy Mass here before continuing to Wadowice, the hometown of Karol Wojtyła, where we visit the house in which he was born and the parish church in which he was baptized.

Following morning Mass (church TBD), we make the solemn pilgrimage to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp — a site of unspeakable suffering and, for Catholics, a place made sacred by the martyrdom of Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 by Pope Saint John Paul II’s own initiative, the memorial bears witness to the systematic murder of more than one million souls. Our guided visit takes us through the barracks and grounds of Auschwitz I, including the cell where Saint Maximilian Kolbe offered his life in place of a fellow prisoner, and through the vast and haunting fields of Auschwitz II–Birkenau. We return to Kraków for a quiet evening of rest and reflection.

Today pilgrims may choose between a free day to explore Kraków at leisure — visiting beloved churches, the historic Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, or simply resting — or an optional full-day excursion to Zakopane, the mountain resort village in the Tatra Mountains that Pope Saint John Paul II treasured. The Zakopane excursion includes the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima in Krzeptówki, built as a votive offering for the miraculous survival of the Holy Father following the 1981 assassination attempt; a small wooden chapel in Jaszczurówka visited by the Pope; the altar at Wielka Krokiew where he celebrated Mass before the faithful in 1997; and a funicular ride up Gubałówka Hill for panoramic views of the Tatra range.

We depart Kraków and make our way north toward Warsaw, stopping at the most important destination: the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa, the greatest Marian shrine in central Europe, second in annual visitors only to Fátima and Lourdes. Here we celebrate Holy Mass and venerate the miraculous image of Our Lady of Częstochowa — the Black Madonna — before whom Poland has placed itself under the protection of the Mother of God for more than six centuries. A resident Pauline monk leads us through the monastery and its storied treasury. We continue to Warsaw for our final overnight.

After a final breakfast together, we transfer to Warsaw Chopin Airport for our journey home. We board Air France Flight 1147, departing at 12:25 PM and arriving in Paris at 2:50 PM. We then connect to Air France Flight 052, departing Paris at 5:00 PM and arriving home at Washington Dulles International Airport at 7:35 PM, carrying with us the graces and memories of our pilgrimage.