“I know how cold it is, how harsh the frost is, but nothing can stop warm Polish hearts from being here today and praying at the foot of Jasna Góra, at the feet of the Queen of Poland, the Blessed Virgin Mary, to show how deeply we love Poland and praise Almighty God,” President Karol Nawrocki said to participants of the 18th Patriotic Pilgrimage of Football Fans to Jasna Góra.
The President emphasized that “this is why we are here today—to show that before God and the Christian values that speak of love, mercy, and openness to one another, we are all capable of standing together and speaking with one voice.”
“We are also here today because we love Poland so deeply. This is, after all, the 18th Patriotic Pilgrimage of fans to Jasna Góra. Yes—today the Republic of Poland and God have brought us together here. And beneath the beautiful white-and-red flag flying there, there is a place for all of us. I greet all of you and want to say that we live in times when we must stand together, when we think about God and the Fatherland. God, honor, and homeland!” President Karol Nawrocki said at Jasna Góra.
The President also thanked the fans for their perseverance.
“You know that I am one of you. I came to the patriotic pilgrimage simply as Karol Nawrocki; I came as an employee of the Institute of National Remembrance, as the director of the Museum of the Second World War, as the president of the Institute of National Remembrance. Last year, you welcomed me as a candidate for the office of President of the Republic of Poland. And it was also thanks to your courage—and to the fact that propaganda and fleeting ideological fashions did not take hold in stadiums—that I became President. For that, I thank you,” he stressed.
“We managed to defend the slogan we invoke: God, honor, and homeland,” Nawrocki said.
“We want Poland to be normal, strong, and secure; we want our borders to be secure; we want it to be a state of prosperity without illegal immigrants. We succeeded together on June 1, also thanks to your courage. I would like to thank Father General Arnold, thank the Prior, thank the Custodian, and let us all thank them together for Christian courage and for the 18th proof that within Christian values and within the Republic there is a place for everyone—for a President who is a fan, for fans, for priests, for farmers, for soldiers. Because Poland is one—it is the Republic; it is a common good; it is ours,” he added.
“I also want to address those of our brothers who are watching us today through the media—those who are not here and have never been here. I want to address our brothers who do not notice the beam in their own eye but see the speck in the eye of various Polish communities, including the community of fans. Those who wish to set moral standards, to hold fan communities accountable—yesterday farmers, sometimes also uniformed services—while focusing on destroying another person. Those journalists who allow themselves to pass judgments and opinions about the entire fan community, forgetting that their work consists of destroying other people. I want to address those politicians who for years have insulted the fan community, while themselves hiding behind parliamentary immunity instead of facing the law,” he said.
“I ask you to remember what is most important—what Jesus said during the Sermon on the Mount: love those who hate you, bless those who persecute you, and pray also for those who want to destroy you and who harm you,” the President emphasized.