Pope Francis praised Latvians on Monday for persevering through the horrors of Soviet and Nazi occupation, persecution and exile, and urged them to keep their Christian faith alive as subsequent generations confront new oppressions today.
On the third day of his Baltic pilgrimage, Francis traveled to Latvia and placed flowers at the monument to Latvian independence. He joined Lutheran and Orthodox leaders at a music-filled ecumenical prayer and acknowledged the many trials Latvians endured during two Soviet occupations and the World War II-era occupation by Nazi Germany: "the horror of war, then political repression, persecution and exile."
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12130963
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12130963
