Pope Francis’s visit to Poland for the 2016 World Youth Day in Kraków will be restricted to the country’s former capital, in spite of pleas by the episcopate.

Polish bishops had invited the pontiff to broaden his itinerary to include Warsaw, Poznań as well as the time-honoured pilgrimage destinations of Częstochowa and Gniezno.

Last month, Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz likewise invited the pope to visit Warsaw besides Kraków. However, papal nuncio in Poland Celestino Migliore has confirmed that the pontiff will not travel beyond Krakow, with the event scheduled for 25 – 31 July 2016. “The pope does not want visits to other Polish cities to eclipse the meeting with young people in Kraków,” a source told the Rzeczpospolita daily.