Pope Francis visits sick children in Poland

“Sadly, our society is tainted by the culture of waste, which is the opposite of the culture of acceptance,” the head of the Roman Catholic Church said in an address at the University Children’s Hospital in the southern city of Kraków.

“And the victims of the culture of waste are those who are weakest and most frail; and this is indeed cruel.

“How beautiful it is instead to see that in this hospital the smallest and most needy are welcomed and cared for,” the pope added.

Earlier in the day, the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics travelled to the former Nazi-German death camp of Auschwitz, some 70 km from Kraków, to pay silent tribute to its victims.

Later on Friday, the pope was to take part in a Way of the Cross ceremony attended by young people at Kraków’s Błonie common.

Organizers predict that up to 1.5 million people from over 180 countries are likely to attend the main events of World Youth Day - a night vigil with the pope on Saturday and an open-air mass celebrated by the pontiff on the last day, Sunday.

Launched by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s, World Youth Day has been held every two or three years in different countries. (pk)