Some 15,000 people in Grodno sign petition for naming street after John Paul II :: Charter'97 :: News

Some 15,000 Grodno residents have added their signatures to a petition calling on the city authorities to name a street after the late Pope John Paul II.

The signature collection campaign was initiated by the Polish Educational Society (Polska Macierz Szkolna).

The Society, in particular, proposes giving the pontiff’s name to a section of a street where a Polish-language school is located and the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer is building a church.

In April, the city government rejected a 10,000-signature petition from the Society.

A deputy chairman of the Grodno City Executive Committee reportedly said that the authorities could not grant the request because of financial difficulties.

Barbara Fustochenko, secretary of the Society, told BelaPAN that the Society would start raising money if the authorities reject another petition under the same pretext.

She said that the city government probably meant that it did not have the money to replace the street signs.

The Society plans to collect as many as 20,000 signatures this time.

“In the entire world, John Paul II has destroyed intolerance barriers and raised the sprouts of tolerance in the souls of people,” Stanislav Senkevich, head of the Society, told BelaPAN earlier. “Thanks to John Paul II, we also live today in a country that may freely call itself a Christian one.”