POPE John Paul II embarked on the final day of an emotional and nostalgic visit to his homeland yesterday, praying at his parents' tomb and visiting the room where he lived as a young priest.
On the last day of an intensive 11-day tour of Poland, the Pope (77) also celebrated Mass early yesterday at the chapel of the royal castle of Wavel, where he celebrated his first Mass upon being ordained in 1946. Among those invited to the Mass were two couples whom the Pope married 40 years ago in the same chapel.
The Pope visited the Krakow cemetery where his father, Karol, an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army as well as the Polish army, is buried along with his mother, Emilie, and his brother Edmund. He placed a bouquet of red and white flowers on the family tomb and lit a candle before spending several minutes praying on his knees.
The Pope's mother died in 1929 when he was eight, leaving him devastated. When he was in Krakow in 1939, he wrote of her in his poem the White Grave: "Oh how many years have gone by Without You - how many years?"
His brother, a qualified doctor, fell victim to scarlet fever caught from a patient in 1932. Then his father, who brought him up, died in 1941.
At a ceremony at which the Pope dedicated a new heart surgery unit at a Krakow hospital named after him, he recalled boyhood visits to his brother at work.
The Pope continued to speak out on the most controversial issues of his faith. At the hospital he praised the many Polish doctors who, for reasons of ethics and faith, refused to perform abortions although these were effectively made legal until the 12th week of pregnancy under a reform of Poland's law passed in 1996.
"With my whole heart I praise the doctors, nurses and all Polish health care workers who place the Divine law `Thou shalt not kill' above what human law allows. I praise you for this witness that you are giving, especially recently," he said.
Later yesterday he flew to the remote south-eastern village of Dukla, associated with the Blessed John whom he will declare a saint at a Mass today.
The Pope returns to Rome this evening.