We miss him very much, but his message rings in our hearts, they declare.

Presented by Slawek Szefs   

ZYCIE WARSAWY, the Warsaw city daily, devotes frontpage attention to yesterday’s fourth anniversary observances of the death of Pope John Paul II. It reports on the evening gathering of thousands of faithful at Pilsudski Square, where the Polish-born Karol Wojtyla celebrated a memorable mass during his first pilgrimage to the Homeland after being elected to the Papal throne. A huge cross formed of lit candles illuminated the square as archbishop Henryk Hoser recalled in his homily the life and message of the late pontiff. He reminded that John Paul II drew not only poor people hungry for bread, but also those craving for words. The Holy Father expected that in the third Millenium we shall be witness to love in a world so desperate for it. Similar vigils and mass were held throughout Poland, from large cities to the smallest localities.

Another topic on which the papers focused extensively has been the G20 summit in London. ‘The richest chipped in billions’ headlines RZECZPOSPOLITA, while GAZETA WYBORCZA exclaims ‘G20 comes to the world’s rescue!’ They emphasise that the two main effects of the meeting have been a strong commitment to increase control over financial markets and a pledge to earmark some 1.1 trillion dollars for arresting the crisis and eradicating its effects. The money would be used by the International Monetary Fund and major financial institutions. Altogether, some five trillion dollars are to be pumped into the global economy by the end of 2010 to revive its growth.

DZIENNIK reports on an unprecedented court ruling concerning hospital responsibility for security of newborns. Two families, whose daughters had been accidentally switched and misidentified due to negligence at a children’s ward 25 years ago shall receive compensation amounting to 1.9 million zloty, the rough equivalent of 420,000 euro. This is a record sum by Polish standards, but the parents of the two girls – now young women – claim this is not the most important aspect of their long road in pursuit of justice. Finding and officially pronouncing those responsible for the incident has helped the parents shed their feeling of undeserved guilt which has been haunting them for that past eight years when the whole affair had been discovered.

The tabloid FAKT zeroes in on the heated Thursday debate in parliament devoted to a proposition tabled by the ruling Civic Platform to a temporary limitation of state subsidies for financing activity of political parties. The major opposition Law and Justice (PiS) had, of course been against the idea, but the majority coalition boat had been rocked by the junior partner – the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) which joined the opponents of the idea. In a series of accusations and counter accusations in an almost derogatory tone, the prime minister and Law and Justice leader exchanged blames of hypocrisy and shame. All in the name of saving precious taxpayers’ money in times of crisis. A counter proposition was brought forward by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) to introduce cuts in the subsidy funds at a rate inversely proportional to the size of party ranks. However, this too fell through in a House vote. And so, following a vicious battle in front of TV cameras, the MPs demonstrated their political will to act and everything is back to normal.