Scouts handed over the Bethlehem Light of Peace to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The Prime Minister reiterated that the Light was also passed to the Ukrainian neighbours with the great hope that the coming year will be a year of peace, freedom for Ukraine, for this part of Europe and the world.

“This year is absolutely special, because the fundamental values that, with this light of peace, are supposed to travel from house to house, from hospital to hospital, from school to school, from country to country, are today under threat. Freedom, peace, hope – they are values that are the foundation of our lives, so I especially thank the scouts for holding up the Bethlehem Peace Light, for going from one place to another with this hope”, said the Prime Minister.

This year, exceptionally, scouts carried the symbolic lantern first to the border with Ukraine.

“We passed it together with great hope that the coming new year will be a year of peace, that the war will end as soon as possible and that it will end in a good peace – a peace and freedom for Ukraine, for this part of Europe, this part of the world; that it will mark a new era, which will be at the same time a time of working in peace”, said the Prime Minister.

The idea of passing on the Bethlehem Peace Light dates back to 1986. Since 1987, the action has been organised by Austrian scouts, who carry the flame from the Bethlehem grotto, the birthplace of Christ, to their country. The ecumenical ceremony takes place in Vienna, where the flame is passed to the city’s inhabitants and representatives of scout organisations from many European countries.

Polish scout organisations have been involved in passing on the Bethlehem Light of Peace for 32 years. At the time, they took over the light for the first time from scouts in Slovakia, who had previously received it from fellow scouts in Austria. Polish scouts pass the Light further east: to Russia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus, west to Germany and north to Sweden.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński