Document
To
His Eminence Archbishop Józef MICHALIK
Metropolitan Archbishop
President of the Polish Conference of Bishops
Geneva, 12 April 2010
Your Eminence,
On behalf of the World Council of Churches I would like to express our profound sorrow to hear of the plane crash in Smolensk on Saturday in which ninety-seven people lost their lives. For your country, the loss of the President of Poland, Lech Kaczynski, his wife, leading politicians, military leaders, well known personalities in the financial and cultural life of Poland, as well as clergy of different confessions is a very heavy burden.
We are also aware of the death of the those serving the Roman Catholic Church – His Grace Bishop General of division Tadeusz Płoski, chief of the Roman Catholic chaplains in the Army of Republic of Poland; Fr Lieutenant Colonel Jan Osinski, ordinariate of Polish Army, Fr Roman Indrzejczyk, chaplain for the President, Fr Prelate Bronislaw Gostomski, Fr Jozef Joniec, Fr Zdzislaw Krol, Fr Andrzej Kwasnik. Please accept our condolences at this heavy loss for the Roman Catholic Church, especially for all Roman Catholics in Poland.
We assure you that our fellowship of churches will mourn with you during these sad days, together with the people of Poland, and will pray for the healing of this deep loss for Poland and the entire world.
Sincerely yours,
Mr Georges Lemopoulos
WCC deputy general secretary
A similar letter was sent to His Eminence Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Apostolic Nuncio at the Holy See Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
