On September 13, I attended a welcoming ceremony for Pope Francis by H.E. Ms. Zuzana Čaputová, the President of the Slovak Republic, in the garden of the Presidential Palace Pope Francis spent four days in Slovakia from September 12 to 15. The current Pope has visited Slovakia eighteen years after the last visit of Pope John Paul II in 2003.
On 15 September, as a member of a diplomatic corps accredited in the Slovak Republic, I attended a Mass served by the Pope in Šaštín, north of Bratislava, which is the most important pilgrimage site in Slovakia. Attending a solemn papal mass was a valuable experience, which I had the opportunity to participate in the company of tens of thousands of pilgrims.
