Pope to visit the Czech Republic in September

After more than ten years, Czechs can once again look forward to a visit by the Pope. Czech Cardinal Miroslav Vlk has confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI is going to spend up to three days in the country at the end of September. Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, visited the Czech Republic altogether three times; the last visit taking place in 1997. I spoke to Jiří Gračka of the Czech Bishop’s Conference, who initiated Pope Benedict’s visit:

Pope Benedict XVI, photo: CTK

“The initiative came from the Czech Bishops’ Conference. Czech bishops extended an invitation to the Pope on several occasions, in 2006, 2007 and 2008. But because of different reasons, mainly organizational, it wasn’t possible for him to come. At the end of 2008 we got some signals that he could accept, so the invitation was renewed and at the beginning of this year we got an answer that the Pope would visit the Czech Republic in late September.”

Is this going to be a spiritual or a state visit?

“Every visit of the Pope to any country is both a state and a pastoral visit. He is the head of the state of Vatican, which means that he meets with the heads of state of all countries. On the other hand, as head of the Catholic Church, he wants to meet the faithful, the priests, the bishops and all people from the Church.”

What have you got planned for the Pope?

“As I have already said, there will be state meetings with the president, perhaps with the prime minister and other politicians. As for the spiritual programme, the mass for a large crowd of people is planned to take place somewhere in Moravia. There are indications that it could be Brno or the diocese of Brno. No Pope has ever visited the diocese since it was established in 1777. On September 28, the feast of Saint Wenceslas, patron Saint of the Czech Republic, he could take part in the pilgrimage to Stará Boleslav, the place where Saint Wenceslas was killed.”

The Czech Republic is said to be one of Europe’s most atheist countries, how many people do you expect to greet the Pope? Is this the reason why he wants to visit Moravia, which is the more religious part of the country?

“That’s right. Of all the faithful in the Czech Republic, three quarters of them live in Moravia, that’s why we plan to have the mass there. It is hard to estimate how many people will come, but we expect tens of thousands, maybe one hundred thousand people.”