According to the presidential palace, two daughters, parents and partner Čaputová, were present at the meeting. Interestingly, the president is not married to her friend Juraj Rizman.

Čaputová offered bread to the Pope as a symbol of connection, a book by painter and restorer Mária Bidelnicová, a charging station for electric cars, medical supplies including a lung respirator and honey from the beehives in the garden of the Presidential Palace.

Afterwards, Pope Francis met five hundred invited representatives of the state, civil society and the diplomatic corps in the garden of the presidential palace. President Čaputová and the Pope delivered a speech.

In her speech, President Čaputová recalled that during a joint meeting at the Vatican, Pope Francis said Slovakia had it in her heart. “These days, we have the opportunity to show you that your person, your spiritual mission and your thoughts have a place in our hearts,” said the head of state. She stressed that Czechoslovakia had been peacefully divided and that Czechs and Slovaks now live side by side in mutual respect and cooperation. “The world is facing crises and the only way to deal with them is to cooperate,” said the president.

Pope Francis also stressed that the world admires the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia. He described Slovakia as a country that can inspire peace and brotherhood. “This is urgent especially at a time when one expects the much-coveted restart of the economy after the pandemic. We risk rushing and succumbing to the temptation of profit. It evokes a temporary euphoria that divides the world. place of connection, ”Pope Francis said.

The parents of murdered journalist Ján Kuciak and the mother of his murdered fiancee Zlatica Kušnírová also received an invitation to the garden of the presidential palace. “It was a very big surprise for us. We did not expect it at all. For us, it is such a satisfaction and meeting the Pope will be a memorial for life,” Kušnírová told Novinka.

Pope Francis caused wrinkles on the heads of the security guards as they walked from the presidential palace to St. Martin’s Church made the column stop and greet people in the street waving to him.

The head of the Catholic Church will then meet with the bishops and seminarians in Bratislava St. Petersburg Cathedral. Martin and representatives of the Jewish community at the site of the old synagogue. He will also visit the homeless center in the Petržalka district of Bratislava. At the Apostolic Nunciature, he will also receive the Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollár and Prime Minister Eduard Heger in the early evening.

Before arriving in Slovakia, Pope Francis asked for an emission-free car and the choice fell on the electric Škoda Enyaq. The electric car was also used by the Pope in 2018 during a visit to Latin America, and he chose the Škoda car the same year during a visit to Ireland, while driving in a rapid. The head of the Catholic Church will have two popemobiles, which he will use mainly at mass gatherings in eastern Slovakia and Šaštín.

Pope Francis will visit Bratislava, Prešov, Košice and Šaštín near the border with the Czech Republic in Slovakia.