The papal stone

The papal stone, located on a forest clearing on Lake Krępsko Średnie, is the oldest monument commemorating Pope John Paul II in Poland. It was erected in 1979. The stone commemorates the place where the future pope celebrated an open-air church service. This happened during the last recreational stay of Cardinal Karol Wojtyła in the region of Wałcz – two and a half months later he was elected the bishop of Rome.   

On July 23rd-30th, 1978, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła along with his friends rested on Lake Krępsko and made a canoeing trip on the Rurzyca River. Year later, when the cardinal of Cracow was the bishop of Rome, the participants of that canoeing trip met by the Rurzyca River and surreptitiously put a round stone with an occasional inscription on the ground where year before a makeshift altar made of kayaks was erected during a camp in order to celebrate Mass. They also hung a birch cross on a nearby tree. The originator and a co-author of this modest, but very important, for the first monument of John Paul II was Mieczysław Wisłocki MD. The preparations to the construction of the monument were started in Cracow – the material for a medallion and letters was gathered there. It was the period of the People’s Republic of Poland, so everything was almost in a clandestine activity. After coming to the lakes around Wałcz, already without “Uncle” (as friends called Rev. Karol Wojtyła), the further works begun. In the place where Cardinal Wojtyła celebrated Mass as many as seven times, a concrete-stone slab was put, the papal coat of arms was made up of stones, and a brazen inscription “Cardinal Wojtyła – Pope John Paul II rested here in July 1978”was placed on the stone. Pebbles from the Dunajec River, where Rev. Karol Wojtyła liked to canoe, were placed on the medallion.

The monument was cloaked in secrecy; it was not mentioned in any official materials. Throughout the ages, a characteristic sloping pine helped to recognize the place from a distance. In 2003, on a neighbouring tree, the second, more decorative cross with a carved head of Jesus and two crossed paddles was placed. The paddles symbolize camp crosses built during the canoeing trips of Karol Wojtyła. Since 1993, the trail on the Rurzyca River has been named after John Paul II. Currently, occasional Masses have been celebrated there. Some kind of a sanctuary is being created there, and the parish of Tarnówka takes care of the place. In 2003, , an oak cross with carved paddles and a head of Jesus, made by Andrzej Romeyko of Ostrowiec near Wałcz, was hung on a pine nearby the monument.