Pope’s private meeting leaves Polish nuns ‘filled with happiness’

Aug 05, 2016

KRAKOW, Poland: The head of one of Poland’s oldest religious orders said her nuns were “filled with happiness and joy” when the Pope paid a private early morning visit to their convent.

“The Holy Father expressed his own joy, and thanked our order for its joint common prayers — our hearts are full of huge gratitude,” Sr Olga Maslanka, superior general of the Congregation of the Virgins of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, told the Polish Catholic news agency KAI.

“He went to some of our sisters who are terminally ill in their invalid carriages and gave them his blessing. He also signed our visitors’ book, thanking us for our work in education and service to the young.”

Pope Francis had stopped off at the Presentation Sisters’ St John Street complex early July 28 before making the journey to the Jasna Gora national sanctuary.

The Presentation Sisters run schools, children’s homes and care facilities in Poland and Ukraine, as well as teaching religion in state schools. Members also work in the Vatican, cataloging and storing gifts offered to the Pope, and sending them on his behalf, as well as maintaining the Pope’s vestments and preparing rosaries and memorabilia for him to dispense at meetings. -- CNS