Pope brings message of unity to a country in turmoil

It was nice while it lasted. Which wasn’t long.

Pope Francis and President Zuzana Čaputová at the airport.Pope Francis and President Zuzana Čaputová at the airport. (Source: TASR)

Welcome to your weekly overview of news from Slovakia. We look back at the Pope’s visit. The war among the police escalates, with political consequences. The governing parties ponder a possible breakdown in their coalition. Delta is spreading ever faster, with some districts now in partial lockdown.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

What the Pope’s visit meant to Slovakia

For a while in September, Slovakia basked in a very different atmosphere from the one it has known for the past year and a half. The messages of unity and solidarity that Pope Francis sent out wherever he went seemed to affect many hearts in Slovakia, if only for a while.

SkryťTurn off ads

Politicians anticipated the papal visit with wishes for Francis to bring peace, and to calm the conflicts in a country where even the visit itself had sparked heated fights about vaccines as entrance tickets to encounters with the Pope – as if the pontiff were here to distribute presents like St. Nicholas in December or clean up their mess. A rude awakening came earlier than expected, with the arrests of police officers on the second day of the papal visit.

But it was the Pope’s presence that put Slovakia on the world stage last week, and the gestures he made while in the country were meant to be seen beyond the country’s borders, too.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

The New Stations of the Cross combine old and new.

New Stations of the Cross to combine surviving remains and contemporary architecture.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad