Pope in Slovakia: František’s journey to Luník IX. also noticed Italian television – Aktuality.sk

One of the local officials told Euronews that if the pope comes to the settlement, it is because he wants to greet the Roma and visit the marginalized community. “And that’s why we value him even more,” he stressed.

Euronews states that Luník IX. is the largest of the “600 get” in Slovakia. Television informs that in similar settlements or settlements there is high unemployment and crime and the majority population avoids them.

Pope’s visit to the Luník IX housing estate. could be an “alarm clock” for the Slovak official church, the DPA quoted from a statement by the chairman of the first Slovak parliament and a representative of Catholic dissent František Miklošek.

In his opinion, “the Archbishop of Bratislava would hardly go to Luník IX. from my own will”.

According to the AFP, this aspect was also pointed out by Peter Bešenyei, the leader of the Salesian community at Luník IX. and Secretary of the Council for Roma and Minorities in the Archdiocese of Košice. According to him, “it is great that the Holy Father is willing to come to a place where no one wants to go.”

Road to the east

Inhabitant Lunika IX. According to AFP, Rudolf Mosorov said that the pope’s visit was a “miracle”. “It will bring us God’s blessing,” he also said.

Czech Radio quoted the Prague Auxiliary Bishop Václav Malý as saying that the Pope was coming to this ghetto to “encourage this part of the population” of Slovakia as well.

Bishop Malý pointed out an important spiritual aspect of Tuesday’s visit to Prešov, where the Pope will celebrate Mass according to the Byzantine rite, while he will be the main celebrant of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Several Israeli dailies and the Catholic News Agency (CNA) paid attention to the interest with which Pope Francis heard testimonies in Bratislava on Monday about the tragic fates and rescue of Slovak Jews during the Second World War.

She noted that the pope had encouraged Jews and Christians to be united in condemning violence and anti-Semitism.

The Italian television RAI stated in its online news that the meeting with the Jewish community was very intense and took place in a suggestive place where “after the Nazi persecutions, the communist regime even wanted to disperse the traces (of the Jewish community) by destroying the synagogue”.

Attitudes towards the Jewish community

The AFP news agency reported on a 22-year-old student who saw the pope’s meeting with the Jewish community as a powerful moment expressing a “vision of a Europe without anti-Semitism.”

However, the young man added that he himself had witnessed “inappropriate jokes and hate speech against the Jews.”

The AFP quoted in this regard from a study published last year by the Slovak think-tank Globsec, according to which 51 percent of Slovaks believe that “Jews have too much power and secretly control governments and institutions around the world.”

The AP agency, as well as other media, also mentioned in their news about the recent 80th anniversary of the adoption of the so-called Of the Jewish Code and the fact that the Slovak government apologized for it last week.

However, they also write about the People’s Party of Our Slovakia, which “openly subscribes to the legacy of the Slovak Nazi puppet state from World War II” in the Slovak Parliament in 2016. Its members use Nazi greetings and want Slovakia to be out of European Union and NATO “.

Speeches of Francis

The CNA wrote in its report that Pope Francis also visited the center of Bethlehem on Monday, where the Missionaries of Love, who are better known than the Sisters of Mother Teresa, work. The center, located on the premises of a former kindergarten, is, according to the CNA, a “green island in the middle of a concrete sea”.

The foreign media did not miss the fact that the Pope spontaneously supplemented his pre-prepared speeches with remarks, often funny.

AP agency e.g. also published a video recorded during his arrival at the Cathedral of St. Martina. An Italian journalist from the crowd watching was shouting the question of how the pope feels after the recent operation. The Pope replied, “Ancora vivo” (I am still alive).

The Vatican News website published an interview with Martin Kramar, a spokesman for the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia (KBS) – he said that Slovaks are surprised by the energy of Pope Francis, who, despite his age, encourages everyone to live their faith and care for others in need.

Pope and President on the same wave

The daily L´Osservatore Romano also reported to the readers about the Pope’s visit to Slovakia.

Czech Radio’s foreign broadcast again pointed out that part of the cross, which will be part of the presbytery during Wednesday’s papal mass in Šaštín, are also beams from the church recently destroyed by a tornado in Moravia.

The Czech Radio newsletter in Bratislava also drew attention to the fact that the Pope and the President of the Slovak Republic Zuzana Čaputová maintain “very good relations”, which are supported by their “common interest in ecology, the position of seniors and people at risk of poverty and social exclusion”.