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Pope Benedict Arrives in Poland
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=125AC8A:2AB91D3 During four-day
trip, Benedict XVI will retrace steps of his predecessor, Pope John
Paul II 



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Pope Benedict XVI, left, stands with Polish president Lech Kaczynski
during the welcoming ceremony upon his arrival at Warsaw airport, May
25, 2006Pope Benedict has arrived in Poland for a four-day trip that
will see him retrace the steps of his predecessor, Pope John Paul II.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and a military honor guard greeted
Pope Benedict upon his arrival Thursday at Warsaw's international
airport.

The Roman Catholic Church leader will meet with Polish leaders today
in Warsaw. He will celebrate Mass in the capital on Friday at
Pilsudski Square - the same place where John Paul led prayers during
his first trip to Poland as pope, in 1979.

The German-born pope also will tour the site of the notorious
Auschwitz death camp used by German troops during the Nazi occupation
of Poland, more than 60 years ago.



Pope Benedict will tour shrines and towns in southern Poland that
played a role in the life and papacy of John Paul. He will conclude
his trip Sunday after visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau, the World War II
death camp where Hitler's Nazis killed more than a million people,
mostly European Jews.

The German pope will pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and
the totalitarian regime created by Adolf Hitler. During his early
years in Germany, Benedict briefly was a member of the Hitler Youth,
at a time when membership in the Nazi paramilitary group was
compulsory.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP .


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