Pope Francis’ 34th has had a long Apostolic journey since September 12th. He visited Hungary, Budapest, Bratislava up to Slovakia. Along the journey, he has done a lot of things while declaring peace.
While in Budapest, he visited Hungary’s capital city. At the museum of Fine arts, he met the President and the Prime minister of Slovakia. The next day, he went to meet the catholic Bishop and walked towards some Christian churches. It was then that he arrived at the Jewish community where he stayed for few hours.
The Jews are said to be a special group of people according to the Christian bible. They were not allowed to mix with other communities during the time of Christ. They were very different compared to other communities.
Pope Francis 34th held a celebration at the Holy Mass in Heroes Square. It was there 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. The congress took a whole week before Pope could wrap up the ceremony.
It was then that Pope landed in Bratislava, in Slovakia. At that moment, he met the representative of the Ecumenical council of Slovakian churches. They discussed some matters that have been affecting the nation.
After all, it has come to the end of the journey. He had stopped in four locations as planned earlier. Sastin was his last place, the minor and youngest town in Slovakia. It was in the city where he met the image of the Virgin Mary. The picture has attracted the pilgrim’s tourists like the philanthropist Mother Teressa. In addition, St.John Paull II visited the place during his period of governorship.
Our Lady of Sorrows has much importance to the people of Slovakia. In 1927, Pope Piux 11 declared the Virgin Mary as the Slovakian’s patroness. During that time, people used to visit the image and pray for forgiveness. The citizens of Slovakia still hold the belief in their hearts.
Even after the absorption of the county into the Communist Bloc, the Slovakian Christians remembered their image. They went ahead to celebrate the 15th feast day at Basilica of Our lady of seven Sorrows.
It was at that moment when John Paul II prayed for almost 200,000 Christians at Basilica, in 1996. It was the second-ever trip by Pope to Slovakia.
On the 15th, Pope has visited Slovakia, during the same feast. And it makes the end of his journey. Pope on April 3rd, 2020 congratulated the Slovakians for their daily commitment to sacrifice and pray through the Virgin Mary. The Christian gathering at the same place to ask for forgiveness is an essential thing.
The Basilica started as a result of an abandoned woman by his husband. After going through hardship, she asked for help from the Virgin Mary. She then promised to build a shrine for Our Lady Of Sorrows if the prayers are answered. Within a month, his husband came back and sought forgiveness. She built a statue of the Virgin Mary and erected it on top of the shrine.
Since then, the Slovakians have believed in the power of the Virgin Mary at that place. They ended up declaring September 15th to make a feast for their savior.
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