Between 1980-1983 we hiked across almost every month except during winter because of the footsteps in the snow. In total we made about 30 trips and we brought thousands of books to Czechoslovakia.
Author of a story of the underground Church of the Eastern Bloc being incorporated into a novel. It's a fictional story. However, a story that is based on actual history.
Francis announced his visit to Slovakia less than three months before its beginning. After its confirmation, the most frequent journalistic question addressed to the church representatives was: “Why will the pope actually come to Slovakia and why does he intend to spend three days here?” The typical answer of the Slovak bishops was: "We don't know, Francis likes surprises."
In a small country on the border of Western and Eastern Europe, the majority of the population professes Catholicism. The communist past has been replaced by the relative prosperity of the European Union. However, despite its dominant position, the Catholic Church is in a long-term crisis.