This year, on the occasion of another anniversary of the disappearance and martyrdom of Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, on Octobre 19, his family traveled to Rome to meet Leo XIV. The purpose of the trip was to offer the Pope the relics of the martyr and to request the blessing of the cornerstone of the Memorial Museum of Father Jerzy, under construction in Okopy, the hometown of the Popiełuszko family. Present were the brother of the blessed, Józef Popiełuszko, and his two nephews Marek (son of Józef) and Jerzy (son of Stanisław), the Archbishop of Białystok, Msgr. Józef Guzdek with priests from the archdiocese, the president of the Podlachia Voivodeship (in Polish, Podlasie) Łukasz Prokorym with members of the voivodeship council, members of the Foundation named after Father Jerzy Popiełuszko “Dobro” (Good)—Bogdan Romaniuk and Michał Matyskiel, mayor of Suchowola—and representatives of the Podlasie Museum, which will oversee the Okopy Museum. Also present were Eliza Pardyka, president of the Youth Council of the “Dobro” Foundation, and Przemysław Wrężlewicz from the Rafael publishing house.

The highlight of the delegation’s visit was the audience on Wednesday, October 22, with Leo XIV, during which Marek Popiełuszko and Łukasz Prokorym had the honor of a personal meeting with the Pope, the so-called “hand-kissing.” The nephew presented the Pope with the Medal of Fidelity to the Truth, minted and awarded by the “Dobro” Foundation, and requested the blessing of the cornerstone, which came from the family farm in Okopy. Marek Popiełuszko also informed the Holy Father that he was born on the same day as Blessed Jerzy, that is, September, 14, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, though eight years later, in 1955. As he told me, he asked Leo XIV to “carefully examine the canonization process of Father Jerzy,” adding that “his relics are already in over 2,000 places of worship around the world.”

President Prokorym, in turn, presented the Pope with a reliquary containing the relics of Father Jerzy and requested a blessing for the Voivodeship and for all of Poland. He explained that he had come with a delegation from the Podlachia region, on the border with Belarus, which is the place where Blessed Popiełuszko was born and raised.

By coincidence, during the Podlachia delegation’s visit to Rome, Józef Popiełuszko celebrated his 80th birthday, which provided the opportunity to celebrate him with a gala dinner in a Roman restaurant. Expressions of gratitude were also shared for everything Józef does to keep alive the memory of his martyr brother and for the construction of the museum of Father Jerzy, whose construction has just begun.