Religious services and a wide range of other events are being held across Poland to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Karol Wojtyła, better known as Pope John Paul II. Wojtyła was born on May 18, 1920, in the town of Wadowice in the south of Poland. He was elected Pope on October 16, 1978, becoming the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. The so-called “Polish Pope” was widely credited with helping to bring about the downfall of Communist regimes in Poland and elsewhere in Europe.
Jan Paweł visited Gdańsk for the first time as Pope in June 1987, where he met with Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa and conducted an open-air mass for one million people in the district of Zaspa.
An open-air exhibition featuring photographs from the Pope’s visit opened on Friday in front of the Church of Divine Providence in Zaspa and will remain open until the end of May. Throughout the day today, Radio Gdańsk will be broadcasting fragments of homilies that Pope John Paul II preached during his historic visit to Trójmiasto.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, Radio Poland
Rate of COVID-19 infections dropping except in Silesia
While the rate of new COVID-19 infections continues to slow across Poland, the outbreak in the mines in Silesia has yet to be contained.
Across Poland, the number of new virus cases rose by 513 over the weekend, while the death toll increased by 18 according to public health authorities. Two-thirds (180) of the new cases confirmed yesterday were from the southern province of Silesia (Śląsk).
As of Monday morning, the number of confirmed cases in Poland is nearing 18,746 (+217) with over 929 (+4) patients succumbing to the disease. On a positive note, hospitalization rates have remained steady at roughly 2,500 while the number of reported recoveries is 7,628.
Source: PAP
European Economic Congress kicks off online
While being officially postponed until September, online debates for the 12th edition of European Economic Congress will open today in response to economic anxieties resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to event organizers, talks will focus on areas expected to change the most due to the pandemic, including international trade, logistics, transport, services, and the labor market, and currently booming industries such as internet trade.
The European Economic Congress is the largest event of its kind covering the economic situation in Central Europe, and annually hosts thousands of participants from a wide variety of related disciplines. While the event is primarily conducted in Polish, many sessions provide English translation. For more information, visit https://www.eecpoland.eu/en/.
Live piano concert series airs tonight
As part of the Gdańsk Music Festival taking place from now until October, acclaimed pianists Adam Kałduński, Adam Makowicz and Piotr Pawlak will be performing a diverse repertoire of romantic, jazz, and classical piano pieces live from the Radio Gdańsk studios over the next three evenings.
Adam Kałduński, a Gdańsk native and last year’s winner of the 2nd International Chopin Piano Competition for Young Pianists in Beijing, will open the series this evening with his award-winning interpretation of various works by Chopin.
The concerts will be broadcast live each day starting at 19:00, on-air at 103.7 FM or online at https://radiogdansk.pl/sluchaj-rg-kanaly.
To stay updated on the other news and events in Trójmiasto, follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/radiogdansknews.
Weather
Today will be cloudy and cool with scattered rain showers throughout the day, continuing overnight. Temperatures will peak around a high of 13°C, or 56°F, dropping only slightly to 10°C or 50°F overnight. Rain and clouds are set to continue through tomorrow with sunny skies expected to return midweek.
RGEN
