John Paul II
Saint John Paul II was awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of Wroclaw in 1997. Since 2005, Wroclaw has also had a square named after John Paul II. John Paul II visited Wroclaw twice, but he had also stayed in the city many times before he was elected pope.
His first visit to Wroclaw as pope was in 1983 during his second pilgrimage to Poland. John Paul II arrived in the city again to attend 46. International Eucharistic Congress in June 1997. The first meeting was held immediately after 9 am on Tuesday 21 June. The pope flew in a helicopter from Częstochowa. He met the faithful at the horse racing track in Partynice.
At 3.30 pm he met the clergy and consecrated persons at the Wroclaw Cathedral.
He left Wroclaw for Góra Świętej Anny, and later for Kraków.
During his second visit, Pope John Paul II spent two days in Wroclaw. He arrived at Wroclaw Airport on Saturday 31 May 1997 and headed to the Cathedral. He consecrated the church in Gądowo on his way. He later met President Aleksander Kwaśniewski and joined an ecumenical prayer with the participants in the Congress at the Centennial Hall. John Paul II wanted to see the Racławice Panorama in the evening. The visit was neither announced nor included in the official itinerary.
The Congress came to an end on the following day. The Holy Mass concluding 46. International Eucharistic Congress was celebrated in the square in front of the Hotel Wroclaw.
It was during the Mass that Pope John Paul II said that Wroclaw was the meeting place. These words are now the city's slogan. "Wroclaw is a city located at the meeting three countries that were brought together by history. It is the meeting place, as it were, a city that unites people. This is where the spiritual traditions of East and West come together."
Benedict XVI
The successor to the throne, Benedict XVI, never visited Wroclaw as pope. That being said, he had a lot in common with the city, especially when it comes to academic research. On 23 November 2011, Pope Benedict XVI received Academic Laurels. The distinction was awarded by the Conference of the Rectors of Universities in Wroclaw, Opole, Częstochowa and Zielona Góra in recognition of Joseph Ratzinger's academic activity. The Rectors received a warm welcome in Polish from the laureate during a general audience in the Vatican. The then Pope Benedict XVI expressed a word of thanks for a distinction that had previously been awarded to Pope John Paul II only. The audience was also attended by Wroclaw Mayor Rafał Dutkiewicz, who presented the Pope with a miniature representation of the Cross of the Peace dedicated to the Wroclaw-born Saint Edyta Stein.
(23.11.2011. Benedict XVI accepts Academic Laurels, a distinction awarded by the Conference of the Rectors of Universities in Wroclaw, Opole, Częstochowa and Zielona Góra. Photograph: Archive of the Papal Faculty of Theology in Wroclaw))
Formerly, on 27 October 2000, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger received Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Papal Faculty of Theology in Wroclaw. The Senate of the Faculty awarded the title for the outstanding achievements in dogmatic theology (christology, ecclesiology and eschatology) and fundamental theology and an exquisite talent in solving difficult theological disputes and problems in the contemporary Church.
(27.10.2000. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger accepts Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Papal Faculty of Theology in Wroclaw. Photograph: Archive of the Papal Faculty of Theology in Wroclaw)
While in Lower Silesia, Cardinal Ratzinger also visited Oleśnica and Henryków.
Francis
In February 2014, during the visit "Ad Limina Apostolorum", Archbishop Józef Kupny invited Pope Francis to Wroclaw. Pope's decision to visit Poland for World Youth Day had already been announced at the time. However, only Kraków was mentioned as the destination of his pilgrimage. Poznań and Gniezno were also mentioned on account of the 1050th anniversary of the Baptism of Poland, and sometimes Wroclaw because of ECC, Eventually, neither this year's European Capital of Culture nor the cities in Greater Poland were included in Pope's itinerary. Apart from Kraków, Francis is going to visit the monastery in Jasna Góra and Auschwitz.
