John Paul II, or John Paul the Great, as he is called here, remains deep in the hearts of Polish people, over three years after his death now. He doesn't need special commemorations to uphold his memory. Still, in the coming weekend, Poland will celebrate the 8th annual Papal Day, which this year coincides with the 30th anniversary of John Paul II's election to the Holy See on October 16th, 1978.

Youth is the focus of this year's celebrations, and more specifically, we will try to reflect over the dangers that threaten young people in the present times, says archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski: 'The dangers that the contemporary youth is facing are grave. On one hand, Polish young people are in love, so to say, with the vision of humanity advocated by John Paul II. But at the same time, they are subject to many influences, just to mention the threats to the institution of the family.'

As part of the Papal Day celebrations, the TOTUS 2008 awards, known also as the 'Catholic Nobel Prize' will be granted this year to persons and institutions, whose activity contributes significantly to respecting human dignity.  Charity will be an important issue too. Funds are to be raised for scholarships for talented but needy youth, such as Karol Baniluk, who has been receiving the JP2 stipend for 7 years now: 'It's been really great help to me. The financial situation in my family was not very good, so I could use the scholarship to develop my talents at school.'

As every year, the Warsaw-based Center for Thought of John Paul II prepared a number of activities to mark the anniversary. These include: two exhibitions in Warsaw, one of them devoted to the 1978 world media reaction to the surprising election of the Pope from behind the Iron Curtain; promotion of a sound album documenting last two papal pilgrimages to Poland in 1999 and 2002 produced in cooperation with PR; paper anthology "John Paul II in literature", a collection of references to the Pope in modern Polish prose and poetry, conferences, prayer vigils, Holy Masses, concerts and an urban game in Warsaw.

Paweł Gierech of the Center for Thought of John Paul II explains the idea of the urban game: 'It's a scenario play Papa Mobile for Warsaw inhabitants. You go to a point, receive some task to do, this leads you to another point, and so on. Every point in the game is connected somehow with John Paul II's presence in Warsaw, his five papal visits to the city. This time it will be only in Polish but maybe we'll also have an English version in the future.'

Some events will also be held outside Warsaw and even abroad. The Center for Thought of John Paul II organized a conference and an exhibition in the European Parliament in Brussels, continues Paweł Gierech: 'The exhibition shows the works of John Paul II to every of the 27 countries of the European Union during his pilgrimages and also his vision of the United Europe - the two lungs: the West and the East.'

The Center also organizes a youth meeting at the European University in Rome in November for young professionals of various sciences and business branches who incorporate the teaching of John Paul II in their daily life, also on the professional level. Former Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls and famous Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi will take part in the event. A jazz concert to the poetry of Karol Wojtyla will conclude the celebrations in Rome.

Catholic commentators welcome the abundance of cultural and even pop cultural events commemorating the great Pope but at the same time point out that it's time Poland started to treat the heritage of John Paul II a little more seriously.

'I am glad that these celebrations are so colorful and loud but I hope that finally we start to listen to what he told us and not only laugh at his jokes,' said Maciej Gajek, a Catholic television host at a new religious channel of the commercial TVN station.