APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS TO LITHUANIA, LATVIA AND ESTONIA [22-25 SEPTEMBER 2018] MEETING WITH THE AUTHORITIES, WITH CIVIL SOCIETY AND WITH THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS, ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER
Square in front of the Presidential Palace (Vilnius, Lithuania)
[…] Throughout its history, Lithuania was able to shelter, receive and accept peoples
of various ethnic groups and religions. All found a place to live in this land –
Lithuanians, Tartars, Poles, Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Armenians, Germans
… Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, old believers, Muslims, Jews – lived together in
peace until the arrival of totalitarian ideologies that, by sowing violence and lack of
trust, undermined its ability to accept and harmonize differences. To draw strength
from the past is to recover those roots and keep alive all that continues to be most
authentic and distinctive about you, everything that enabled you to grow and not
succumb as a nation: tolerance, hospitality, respect and solidarity. […]
