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From 12 to 15 September 2021, the Holy Father visited Slovakia. His visit was a historic event also for us Slovak Jesuits. Pope Francis received us at the Apostolic Nunciature in Bratislava on the very first evening of his stay in Slovakia. Pope Francis spent almost an hour and a half among 53 priests and religious brothers of all ages. 

At the invitation of Pope Francis, Slovak Jesuits gathered from various places where they are active: from Bratislava, Prešov, Košice, Ružomberok, Piešt'any, Trnava, Ivanka pri Dunaji, as well as from Rome and Lviv, Ukraine. At the meeting took part also P. Antonio Spadaro, editor-in-chief of La Civiltà Cattolica. 

In a spontaneous atmosphere, we powerfully felt the fraternal and paternal relationship of the Pope. It was an opportunity for each one of us to get to know him in a very familial, close way, and to be strengthened in our own religious identity. 

The Pope's gesture of taking an ordinary chair instead of the prepared one and sitting quite close to us says it all. On behalf of all, the Pope was greeted by Father Provincial Jozef Šofranko. Together we prepared three gifts for the Holy Father.

A large paper rose flower made by children, families and volunteers at the Family Assistance Center in Trnava, which is a symbol of prayers for the Holy Father and for his intentions. The paper petals were cut out by the children from photographs of their families' lives and include portraits of beatification candidates Tomáš and František Munk and Father Vendelín Javorka.

The second gift was the publication of biblical commentaries on the Book of Psalms, which is the fruit of the collaboration of Slovak Jesuits with biblical scholars from Catholic and Evangelical faculties, as well as with the Jewish community.

The third gift expressed the rootedness in the testimony of faith given by the confreres in the times of communist persecution. A newly published book on the personalities of the Slovak Jesuits of that time is in English and is titled Watersource from the Rock.

Two days later, on 14 September, a second brief meeting with the Jesuits took place in Prešov, just after the end of the Greek Catholic Divine Liturgy. In fact, Pope Francis, at the invitation of one of the Jesuits, whom he had met at the nunciature in Bratislava, personally stopped at the Retreat House to greet the cooks who were preparing refreshments for the bishops. Finally, Francis greeted also the local Jesuit community.  

Please click here to read the transcript of the conversation of Pope Francis with the Slovak Jesuits.

Jozef Bartkovjak – Jesuits SVK

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