Father Krystian Sacharczuk at St Anne's academic church in Warsaw, said the celebration was "a living reminder of the Last Supper when Jesus established the Eucharist and the priesthood". He stressed that believers were not just carrying around bread in the procession but a "real, living God."

A Centuries-Old Belief Becomes Tradition
The feast of Corpus Christi originated for the Western Church with the Patriarch of Liège in 1246 and was made a universal feast in 1317. It was introduced in Poland by Bishop Nanker at a synod in Kraków in 1320. It has since become one of the country's best-attended religious events.

Public Witness of Faith
Father Sacharczuk invited the faithful to take part in the processions and show the same kind of "courage," describing the celebration as "a public testimony to the most important reality" and encouraging them to take part "also with a certain pride." Throughout Poland, the event attracted big crowds of people and brought communities together as the church attempted to demonstrate that the Eucharist belongs in the public sphere.