Birthday wishes for Pope Francis from President of the Polish Bishops' Conference

Dear Holy Father,

In the name of the faithful and the pastors of the Church in Poland, I would like to wish Your Holiness a happy birthday.

Advent – the moment in which you, Your Holiness, recall the day of your birth - is a liturgical time accompanied by many symbols, and one of them is light. I would, therefore, like to wish to you that, in this world where there is still much darkness, the Holy Father may be a tireless harbinger of the Light that knows no decline and which is our Lord Jesus Christ.

I wish that the words of the Holy Father, together with light, may also bring the warmth with which God wants to comfort all those who cold and lost and trying to find their way home, to our Holy Mother Church.

Finally, I wish you personally, Holy Father, that you may, with confidence and peace of heart, contemplate this perpetual source of joy, love, and peace that will be for Your Holiness - even more - a source of inner peace of the spirit and courage.

With filial devotion and prayer,

+ Stanisław Gądecki Metropolitan Archbishop of Poznan President of the Polish Bishops' Conference Vice Chairman of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE)