New Yorker begins cycling tribute to Pope Francis in Poland

Victor Mooney, a 59-year-old Catholic from New York, has embarked on a 1,000-kilometre cycling journey across Poland in honour of Pope Francis.

Luca Franchetti Pardo, Italy's ambassador to Poland, meets with Victor Mooney in Warsaw.

Photos: GC Media

Mooney, who lives in the New York borough of Queens, hopes the trip—part of the "We Remember Challenge—will promote efforts to combat antisemitism and encourage religious tolerance and interfaith dialogue, causes championed by the late pope.

#WeRememberChallenge takes a knee at Parish of the Holy Cross ahead of 1,000-km bike pilgrimage around #Poland in tribute to #PopeFrancis | @OskarGie @tvn24 @EpiskopatNews @cnalive @JasnaGoraNews @RadioMaryja @Agenzia_Ansa @VaticanNews @Evange_en | #pilgrimsofhope #weremembernow pic.twitter.com/f66ga0WV6N

— Lisa Samuels (@NYCgcmedia) June 1, 2025

His pilgrimage began on Sunday in Warsaw and includes stops at Catholic shrines, as well as the former Nazi German concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek.

New Yorker begins 1,000 km pilgrimage on wheels in tribute to #PopeFrancis | June 1 | Piłsudski Square | 1 PM | #Warsaw, #Poland | #weremembernow | combat antisemitism | tolerance | peace | interfaith dialogue | @OskarGie @tvn24 @EpiskopatNews @cnalive @JasnaGoraNews @RadioMaryja pic.twitter.com/jwR5Mnv5bM

— Lisa Samuels (@NYCgcmedia) June 1, 2025

Pope Francis died at the Vatican on April 19 at the age of 88.

It’s time roll… #weremembernow #Jubilee2025 - #Warsaw, #Poland - Thank you Sofitel Warsaw Victoria Hotel 😃 pic.twitter.com/Wki3ec6iDx

— weremembernow (@weremembernow) June 1, 2025

On May 8, American Cardinal Robert Prevost was elected the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV.

(gs)

Source: GC Media