On November 20th at the Church of Peace, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz attended an Ecumenical Mass for Peace.
In the same place 25 years ago, just before the Mass of Reconciliation in Krzyżowa, Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki met to pray for the very same reason.
The ecumenical service was led by the current presiding bishop of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland – Rt. Rev. Jerzy Samiec, Bishop Ryszard Bogusz – the head of Wrocław diocese of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession, Bishop Ordinarius Ignacy Dec from The Roman Catholic Diocese of Świdnica and the Roman Catholic Archbishop – Alfons Nossol, who went back to the speech at the famous Mass of Reconciliation:
The Polish Security Service was strongly oppossed to this sign. I refused to ommit its showing. I refused to surrender my principles.
The bishop-elect Waldemar Pytel, host of the Church of Peace, thanked Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Kopacz for the tremendous support from the Governments of both countries in terms of the preservation and restoration of the church. The Prime Minister and the Chancellor received gifts in the shape of special gingerbread formed in the image of the church, and a duplicate of a document from 1653, which lists a description of the endevours of lutherans from Świdnica for raising funds for the construction of the Church of Peace.
