The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, arrived in Poland on Wednesday afternoon for World Youth Days, a visit eagerly awaited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who have flocked to this country from around the world.

Many young pilgrims from various countries cheer in front of the memorial to Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz at World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, 26 July 2016. Photo: EPA/ARMIN WEIGEL.

A Mass celebrated by Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz officially launched World Youth Days in Kraków, southern Poland, on Tuesday evening.



Meanwhile, Polish highlanders have decided to stage a special welcome for the head of the Catholic Church, even though the southern Tatra capital of Zakopane is not included on Pope Francis’s itinerary.

As the papal plane flies over the Tatra mountains on its way to Kraków, the pope will be able to see the flag of the World Youth Days displayed on top of Mount Giewont.

It will be brought there by the well-known Polish explorer Marek Kamiński with a group of highlanders. They will also place on the summit tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments.

With its silhouette reminiscent of a sleeping knight, Giewont is the most distinctive of the Tatra peaks. The 15-metre-high steel cross, erected by highlanders in 1900, stands at the top of the mountain, at 1,894 metres.

Anna Karpiel-Semberecka from the Zakopane Town Council has told the Polish Press Agency that today’s symbolic welcome to Pope Francis harks back to the visit to the Tatras by Pope John Paul II in June 1997.

In a homily, he referred to the Giewont cross in these words: "I thank God for the people who took that cross to the peak of the mountain. That cross looks out on the whole of Poland, from the Tatras to the Baltic coast. That cross speaks to us saying, 'Lift up your hearts!' I pray that all of Poland will look toward that cross and hear that invitation. Let us lift up our hearts!" (mk/rg)