The 'Ad Limina' visit of Czech bishops ended

Bishops of the Czech Republic finished their “Ad Limina Apostolorum” visit of Rome that took place on 11th–17th February 2014. During the week-long event, they met Pope Francis on two occasions and celebrated several masses with Czech pilgrims.

Vatican: Program of the visit of fifteen bishops from the Czech Republic to Rome was marked by meetings with various representatives of the offices in the Roman Curia and also by two meetings with the Holy Father – during his general audience on Wednesday and then at a private audience on Friday.

In his speech to thousands of pilgrims gathered for the general audience on Wednesday, 12th February, Pope Francis greeted the Czech bishops as well as some three hundred pilgrims from the Czech Republic. “Dear brothers, convey my greeting to your priests, men and women religious and lay faithful. I assure you of my prayer for you and for those the Lord has entrusted to your care,” he told bishops and added: “Pray for me too.” During the audience, the Holy Father also blessed crowns for the Palladium of Bohemia and for the statue of Our Lady of Olešnice and said: “As I bless the rosaries for the Palladium of the land of Bohemia, from my heart I impart to you and to the Czech Church the apostolic blessing.”

The private meeting of Czech bishops with the Holy Father started on Friday at 10.30 a.m. and took about ninety minutes. Pope Francis gave to bishops his speech with some recommendations to the Czech Church. “While the Church in your country was oppressed for a long time by regimes based upon ideologies suppressing human dignity and freedom, today you have to deal with other traps such as secularism and relativism,” he told them and called upon them to welcome all people, even those who are far from any religious feelings. He also appealed for support of families as well as the presence of the Church in schools and culture.

The Holy Father then mentioned the economic situation of the Czech Church. “It is necessary to develop such a system that would ensure basic resources for any ecclesiastical institution as well as freedom to pastoral activity while mindful of the fact that all material goods are reserved only to support the spiritual mission of the Church,” he underlined and added: “Special attention must be paid to ensure that the property is administered in prudent and transparent way, that it is protected and kept, and this all also with the help of trustworthy and qualified lay faithful.” Closing the private audience, Pope Francis asked bishops to pray for him and imparted to them his apostolic blessing.

Besides the official appointments of the Ad Limina visit, bishops also met the three hundred pilgrims from the Czech Republic who accompanied them during the week-long event; each day they celebrated mass with them in some basilica. On the first day of the visit, the mass presided by Cardinal Dominik Duka, archbishop of Prague, was celebrated at the Vatican basilica. On Friday, the 1145th anniversary of the death of St. Cyril, who died on 14th February 869, Czech pilgrims together with representatives of various Slavic countries celebrated the mass at the St. Cyril’s tomb in the basilica of St. Clement; the mass was presided by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, archbishop emeritus of Prague. On Sunday, bishops prayed at the memorial of Jan Palach, a Czech student who set himself on fire on 16th January 1969 to protest against the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The visit of bishops from the Czech Republic, called Ad Limina Apostolorum (“to the thresholds of the apostles”), took place eight years after the last such event. Bishops also had the first opportunity to officially meet Pope Francis together.