The Catholic Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols has expressed his “sincere condolences” to the Polish community in English and Wales following the death of Poland’s president and several religious leaders in a plane crash at the weekend.

Nichols said in a letter to the Rector of the Polish that he would be praying for those who died in the crash near Smolensk, in Russia, and for the people of Poland.

Victims of the crash included President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, Poland’s army chief, the governor of the central bank, MPs and religious leaders.

The religious leaders included Bishop T Ploski, Archbishop M Chodakowski and Mgr Bronislav Gostomski, parish priest of the Church of St Andrew Bobola in Shepherd’s Bush, London.

The delegation had been on its way to a memorial at Katyn, near Smolensk, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre of 20,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police in 1940.

In his letter, Archbishop Nichols said: “I would like to assure you of my prayers for all who have died and for all the people of Poland at this time of shock and grieving.”

He expressed particular sorrow at the death of Mgr Gostomski, saying it had brought the disaster “very close to home for us all”.

He added: “(I) assure you all of my thoughts, prayers and blessings.”

A special mass for those who died in the plane crash will be held at the Polish Church of St Andrew Bobola in Shepherd’s Bush on Thursday.