(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.”