Papal stole, shoes to charity auction

The stole and shoes were displayed Sunday on the Campus Misericordiae site in Brzegi by Wieliczka, where the mass will take place.

Krakow Caritas head Father Bogdan Kordula told PAP that a copy of the papal stole and the shoes will be auctioned, the proceeds to fund a mobile hospital for war-injured Syrian refugees in Lebanon as a symbolic gift for the pope from the World Youth Day participants.

The stole, hand-embroidered by a Wieliczka local, measures almost 2.5 metres and features the papal insignia, a WYD logo and a likeness of Wieliczka patron saint Kinga.

The calfleather shoes are a gift from a shoemaking factory following the tradition of onetime papal shoemaker Stanislaw Zmija.

Kordula explained that the original stole could not be put up for auction as it will be consecrated by the pope. (PAP)

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