Rome/Prague, Nov 15 (CTK) – Pope Francis met a Czech delegation, including Prague Mayor Adriana Krnacova and Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka and promoting Prague’s bid for hosting the World Youth Days in 2022, during the papal audience on Wednesday.
The Czech delegation headed by Senate deputy chairwoman Miluse Horska is also meeting Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, and Cardinal Kevin Joseph Farrell, the prefect for family and life issues, on Wednesday.
In the Papal Basilica of St Peter, the delegation is to lay flowers to the tomb of Czech Cardinal Josef Beran and the statue of St Agnes of Bohemia.
About a hundred of students of a secondary school from the town of Kromeriz, south Moravia, are part of the delegation, too.
Prague councillor Jan Wolf told CTK that Pope Francis said he has never been to Prague which he considers the most beautiful city of Europe and that he hopes to visit it in future.
The Czech delegation invited the Pope to Prague.
According to unofficial information, Prague has been the only candidate for hosting the 2022 World Youth Days so far, but the deadline for submitting bids has not expired yet. The Vatican is to make the decision on the host next year.
World Youth Days are organised once in three years and the pope traditionally takes part in it. In July 2016, the event was held in Poland and approximately 2.5 million people took part in them, including 6,000 Czechs.
The first World Youth Days were organised in 1984 on the impulse of Pope John Paul II.
