Lithuania hopes Pope Francis will bring hope for the future

Lithuania hopes Pope Francis will bring hope for the future

Young Lithuanians at Holy Mass.

Pope Francis is preparing to set off on Saturday 22nd September for a three-nation Apostolic Journey. The Archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania, talks about hopes and expectations for his visit.

By Linda Bordoni

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are the three Baltic nations Pope Francis will visit during his 25^th Apostolic Journey abroad starting on 22 and ending on 25 September.

According to his schedule he will spend time in Vilnius and Kaunas in Lithuania, in Riga and Aglona in Latvia, and in Tallinn in Estonia.

All three nations are celebrating their 100th anniversaries having declared their independence from Russia in 1918 before being incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 of which they were part of until 1991.

All three of them were visited by Saint Pope John Paul II 25 years ago.

Lithuania has the largest Catholic community in the Baltics, accounting for more than 75 percent of the nation’s nearly 3 million inhabitants.

Vatican News spoke to the Archbishop of Vilnius, Gintaras Linas Grušas about preparations, expectations and hopes for the papal visit.

www.vaticannews.va/en