POPE John Paul yesterday painted a bleak picture of life for the economic orphans of Poland's post communist prosperity, saying many suffered poverty, homelessness and unemployment.
He urged political and business leaders not to ignore the old and the disadvantaged who have struggled since the fall of Polish communism in 1989 spurred one of the fastest economic revivals in eastern Europe. (The last Soviet soldiers garrisoned in Poland left in 1993.)
In a sermon to 300,000 pilgrims at a dilapidated former Soviet air base near the southwestern town of Legnica on the third day of his return to his homeland, John Paul said: "The Pope will speak out - and he cannot fail to speak out - on social problems because here man is involved, concrete individuals."
The vast crowd gave the 77 year old Pope a welcome reminiscent of the emotional masses he held during earlier pilgrimages to Poland, starting in 1979 when the country was still firmly under communist sway.
Pope John Paul's age and frail health and the realisation that this strenuous 11 day visit to 12 towns may be his last to the country have charged the pilgrimage with nostalgia. Many worshippers fell to their knees as the Popemobile drove him from his helicopter to an altar topped by a 25 metre high cross.
The Pope, who spoke to the crowd under brilliantly sunny skies after two days of rain since his arrival in Wroclaw, said the breathless pace of capitalism was leaving many victims in its wake.
"Every day we become aware of how many families are suffering from poverty," he said in a sermon read from a throne painted with gold leaf.
The Pope said single mothers were struggling to raise their children, elderly people were being abandoned and many Poles had been made unemployed by industrial and economic restructuring.
He appealed to Poland's new entrepreneurs not to treat workers as mere tools of production.
Today he is to join seven central and eastern European presidents at the tomb of Saint Adalbeit, considered the patron saint of a united Europe.
. While Pope John Paul warns against the harsher face of capitalism, Polish schoolboys are cashing in on his latest pilgrimage with the verve of free market businessmen.
Jacek Tomzcuk (16), and two friends invested 5280 in making cheap papal souvenirs to sell to some of the 300,000 worshippers who attended an open air mass. "I am counting on a 200 per cent return on my investment, he said. "The money will pay for my vacations."