2024-09-23 15:08 update: 2024-09-24, 14:11
Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
President Andrzej Duda has appealed to Poles in the US to cast their votes in the upcoming presidential elections, while on a visit to the Polish-American Roman Catholic shrine in Pennsylvania.
The presidential couple visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on Sunday where they participated in a mass followed by the unveiling of a monument to the Polish anti-communist workers' movement Solidarity.
During his visit, Duda addressed the Polish-American community and encouraged them to participate in the upcoming US presidential elections. He called for them to do everything in their power to make the Polish community in the US impossible to ignore.
Duda also said that numerous American presidents had visited the Roman Catholic shrine in the past to show their appreciation for Poland. According to Duda, it was due to the political power of the Polish-American community and its participation in US elections.
Duda emphasised that a strong America was crucial for Europe and Poland in particular.
"This is a wonderful day for our amazing Polish-American community," US former president Donald Trump wrote about Duda's visit to Pennsylvania on his TRUTH Social portal on Sunday. "My great friend, Polish President Andrzej Duda, is at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to honour and remember the brave heroes who fought for Poland's independence after World War II," he added, also quoting his message to Poles he delivered during his visit to Warsaw in 2017. "So together, let us all fight like the Poles - for family, for freedom, for country, and God," Trump said at that time.
The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa is a meeting centre for the local Polish diaspora and a frequent destination for Polish politicians visiting the United States. Pennsylvania, with 5 percent of the population of Polish origin, is regarded as one of the key states for the outcome of the November presidential elections. Both Democrats and Republicans vie for the votes of the Polish-American community there as well as in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Hundreds of Polish Americans and Poles living in the US came to the event on Sunday, mostly from the states of New Jersey and New York. Some of them brought Trump-branded hats and flags with them.
Initially, Trump's team announced that he would join Duda during the unveiling of the monument, however, the meeting was later cancelled.
Marcin Mastalerek, the head of the President's Office, told Polish radio station RMF FM that security issues were the reason for the cancellation. "It is a huge area. And this was a few days after the second assassination attempt on Trump," he added.
Asked whether Duda would meet Trump in New York, Mastalerek said there were no plans for such a meeting. "A meeting with US President Joe Biden would certainly take place," he added. "It will take place on Wednesday, during the US president's annual reception for world leaders," Mastalerek said. (PAP)
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