Pope visits Krakow children’s hospital on World Youth Day

Pope Francis visited a children’s hospital in Krakow on Friday (July 29) as he continued his tour of Poland for World Youth Day. The Children’s University Hospital is an important medical centre, treating approximately 200,000 in- and outpatients every year. Around 50 hospitalised children as well as their parents gathered to receive blessings and listen to an address by the Pontiff. “I would like to draw near to all children who are sick, to stand at their bedside, and embrace them. I would like to listen to everyone here, even if for only a moment, and to be still before questions that have no easy answers. And to pray,” Pope Francis said. World Youth Day is a jamboree of young people around the world that has sometimes been dubbed the “Catholic Woodstock”. Poland is a stronghold of Catholicism, with almost 90 percent of its population identifying themselves as Roman Catholics.