Czech President Milos Zeman has again invited Pope Francis to the Czech
Republic, in a letter in which he congratulated him on his 80th birthday
and which was released on the web page of the Prague Castle, the seat
of Czech heads of state, yesterday.
"Even though many people who do not overtly claim any faith live in my
country, you are perceived here as a moral personality and an example
worth to be followed. Not only because of this it would be a pleasure to
welcome you in the Czech Republic," Zeman wrote.
He invited Pope Francis to the Czech Republic during their personal
meeting in the Vatican last year and he repeated it when he met the Pope
at a session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September.
In his letter of congratulation, Zeman wrote that he respects Pope
Francis's deeds which lead to the church opening itself to people, its
coming closer to the believers and in aid of those in need.
Zeman wrote Francis carries the light of humanism in the world.
Francis's predecessor, Benedict XVI, visited the Czech Republic in
September 2009 when he celebrated a Mass in Brno.
In Stara Boleslav,
central Bohemia, he paid tribute to the memory of St Wenceslaw, the
patron saint of the Czechs.
Before Benedict XVI, Czechs welcomed Pope John Paul II in their country in 1997.