IMF to conduct Egypt's 5th, 6th reviews next fall    Venezuela vows to uphold sovereignty on 214th independence anniversary    Egypt's FM probes Gaza truce, Iran-Israel tensions with intl. figures    ADIB Egypt publishes second sustainability report for 2024    Over 215,000 projects funded under Mashrouak, exceeding EGP 33bn in May: Minister    Gaza ceasefire hopes rise amid intensifying Israeli strikes, mounting death toll    Egypt, Norway hold informal talks ahead of global plastic treaty negotiations    Greco-Roman tombs with hieroglyphic inscriptions discovered in Aswan    UN conference cites Egypt's 'NWFE' programme as model for development finance    Al-Sisi calls for unified efforts to hold elections in Libya, urges withdrawal of foreign forces    EGP edges down in Sunday morning currency trading    Egypt, Russia's Rosatom review grid readiness for El-Dabaa nuclear plant    Global tour for Korean 'K-Comics' launches in Cairo with 'Hellbound' exhibition    Egypt launches public-private partnership to curb c-sections, improve maternal, child health    Philip Morris Misr announces new price list effective 1 July    Egypt teams up with private sector to boost university rankings    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Egypt condemns deadly terrorist attack in Niger    Egypt's FM, China's Wang discuss Iran-Israel escalation    Egypt's EHA, Schneider Electric sign MoU on sustainable infrastructure    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Grand Egyptian Museum opening delayed to Q4    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's EDA joins high-level Africa-Europe medicines regulatory talks    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    Egypt's Democratic Generation Party Evaluates 84 Candidates Ahead of Parliamentary Vote    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Cabinet approves establishment of national medical tourism council to boost healthcare sector    Egypt's PM follows up on Julius Nyerere dam project in Tanzania    Egypt's FM inspects Julius Nyerere Dam project in Tanzania    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Energized pope cracks jokes, greets fans in Slovakia
Published in Ahram Online on 13 - 09 - 2021

Pope Francis cracked jokes Monday and took an ambling walk to greet well-wishers as he opened his first full day in Slovakia in good health and spirits ahead of a solemn encounter with the country's Jewish community.
Francis arrived at the presidential palace, and later at the capital's St. Martin cathedral, looking rested and energized on the second day of his four-day pilgrimage to Hungary and Slovakia, which marks his first international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July.
'I'm still alive!' Francis quipped when asked by an Italian journalist how he was feeling as he walked up a ramp into the cathedral for a meeting with Slovak priests and nuns, where he cracked a series of jokes in a sign he was in good spirits.
Francis, 84, has been recovering after having 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed for what the Vatican said was a severe narrowing of the large intestine. He has seemed in good form, though he used a golf cart buggy indoors on Sunday during a rigorous few hours in Budapest to limit a long walk, and has been delivering some speeches sitting down.
But he stood for a long time to greet priests and bishops _ nearly all of them maskless _ at the end of his meeting. And he then took an extended walk around the cathedral piazza to greet pilgrims, clearly enjoying the welcome and enthusiasm of the crowd after the coronavirus put a stop to his global travels for over a year.
At his first stop of the day at the Bratislava presidential palace, Francis told President Zuzana Caputova, Slovakia's first female president, that the coronavirus pandemic had been the greatest test in recent history, but that it should offer a lesson for the future.
'It has taught us how easy it is, even when we are all in the same boat, to withdraw and think only of ourselves. Let us instead set out anew from the realization that all of us are frail and in need of others'.
Ahead of a rigorous two days hop-scotching around Slovakia, Francis is spending Monday in Bratislava where the highlight of his visit is an afternoon encounter at the capital's Holocaust memorial, built on the site of a synagogue destroyed by the communist regime in the 1960s.
He goes into the event having called on Sunday for Christians and Jews to work together to stop the rise of antisemitism in Europe, saying it is a 'fuse which must not be allowed to burn'.
Slovakia declared its independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939, and became a Nazi puppet state with politician and Roman Catholic priest Jozef Tiso becoming the country's president.
Under his rule, the country adopted strict anti-Jewish laws and deported some 75,000 Jews to Nazi death camps where some 68,000 perished. Tiso was sentenced to death and hanged in 1947.
Now, only about 5,000 Jews live in Slovakia, a largely Roman Catholic country of 5.5 million currently ruled by a four-party center-right coalition government.
Just last week, the government formally apologized for the racial laws that stripped the country's Jews of their human and civil rights, prevented their access to education and authorized the transfer of their property to non-Jewish owners.
Marking the 80th anniversary of the 'Jewish Code' adopted on Sept 9, 1941, the government said in a statement Sept. 8 that it 'feels a moral obligation today to publicly express sorrow over the crimes committed by the past regime'.
The code was considered one of the toughest anti-Jewish laws adopted in Europe during the war.
Slovakia is now home to the far-right People's Party Our Slovakia, which has had members in Slovakia's Parliament since 2016. The party openly advocates the legacy of the Slovak Nazi puppet World War II state. Its members use Nazi salutes and want Slovakia out of the European Union and NATO.


Clic here to read the story from its source.