Pope meets Speaker of Latvian Parliament

(Vatican Radio) The Speaker of the Latvian Parliament, Solvita Aboltina, had a private meeting with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Wednesday morning. During the audience she shared with the Holy Father some of the challenges that her country has faced since the end of Soviet occupation over two decades ago. Recalling the visit of Pope John Paul II to Latvia in 1993, she also spoke about the role of the Churches today in providing moral guidance and support as the country struggles to emerge from its economic crisis and become a fully-fledged member of the Eurozone. Philippa Hitchen spoke to Mrs Aboltina just after her audience with the Holy Father:

Listen:

“Latvia is a country that was hit really hard by economic crisis, and the recovery from economic crisis would not have been possible without the strengthening of spiritual and moral values. The Church in Latvia played a very important role in these matters, and politicians understand how important, especially during the crisis, was the support of the Church.

Latvia is a country where ecumenical tradition is very strong, and we continue to be a good example for cooperation between different religions. […] The people of Latvia still remember that 20 years ago, in 1993, Blessed Pope John Paul II visited Latvia, and they still remember how important it was for us, for a country that was occupied for 50 years by the Soviet empire. […] Latvia was always a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, and it’s important that different people can live together without strife, without fighting.

It’s really important for us to be in the family of Europe as we always knew that the Latvian place historically is in Europe. […] Our economic goal always was to join the Eurozone, and we have fulfilled all the Maastricht criteria to become a fully-fledged member of the Eurozone. Firstly it shows our economic independence, it shows that we have a strong currency and that we belong to the family of the European Union. And secondly it is political, it shows that there is no way back to some other understanding of democratic values.

Of course there is an argument that we can lose our national identity, so I asked my foreign colleagues about national identity, and they said there are two arguments. First of all, during Soviet times we were not afraid to lose our national identity using Soviet rubles, and we survived and still are Latvians. And the second and most important argument is that the name of the currency doesn’t matter: it’s very important that people feel they can live better, and that our economy develops, and we belong to the developed countries of the European Union.”