Pope Benedict has praised sick people who trust in God for teaching the rest of humanity just how deeply one can believe.
Meeting hundreds of infirm and disabled people at a shrine near Krakow, the pontiff also prayed that their carers would extend God's mercy to them.
The Pope is on the third day of a four-day visit the native Poland of his predecessor, John Paul II.
He has also visited John Paul's hometown of Wadowice, where an estimated 25,000 people waving Vatican flags gathered underneath an altar bearing a banner demanding quick sainthood for the late pontiff.
Pope Benedict arrived by motorcade to pray and visit John Paul's childhood home.
A metal arch set up for the occasion spans a narrow street between the town's Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the house where John Paul was born.
Benedict was due to walk beneath the arch in a gesture symbolising the transition from one pope to the next, according to a local church spokesman.
The Pope's tour will include a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp tomorrow.
