Vatican City, Sep 26, 2018 / 01:34 am
Despite the pain and suffering they have experienced, Catholics in the Baltic states can take hope in the steadfast care of the Virgin Mary, as depicted at the Gate of Dawn in Lithuania, Pope Francis said Wednesday.
"The years pass, the regimes pass, but above the Gate of Dawn of Vilnius, Mary, Mother of Mercy, continues to watch over her people, as a sign of sure hope and consolation," he said Sept. 26.
The pope's general audience catechesis was devoted to a reflection on his Sept. 22-25 visit to the three Baltic countries: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
He noted the many years of persecution the people of the three countries have faced in the last 100 years, especially during the Nazi and Soviet occupations, when priests were imprisoned and deported, and the Jewish people massacred. Visiting the various places where these injustices took place, he saw "the cruelty of humanity," he said.