KOSICE, Slovakia (AP) – Pope Francis is visiting a neighborhood in Slovakia next week that most Slovaks would not even think of going to, something that until recently even police would avoid after dark.
Francis will make the visit to the gypsy community in the Lunik IX district of Kosice’s second largest city, Slovakia, one of the highlights of his pilgrimage to the “heart of Europe”.
Francis will be the first pontiff to meet the most socially excluded minority group in Slovakia. A suitable place for the “pope of the periphery”, Lunik XI is the largest of the nearly 600 shabby and segregated settlements where the poorest 20% of the country’s 400,000 gypsies live.
Most lack basic elements such as running water or sewer, gas or electricity systems.
“It’s a great honor for us,” said Lunik IX Mayor Marcel Sana, who has been a local resident for 2 years. the poor and socially disadvantaged people who need this support. “
For Peter Zatkulak, one of the four priests belonging to the Salesians of Don Bosco, a Catholic congregation that moved to Lunik IX in 2008, the arrival of the pope is an opportunity to restart relations between the gypsies and the rest of the population.
Gypsies have long suffered racism and discrimination in Slovakia and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe and continue to face enormous obstacles in employment and education.
“Gypsies have been segregated from the majority many times in the past and we didn’t want to see it,” Zatkulak said. “But we needed to integrate them and that’s what’s happening now. Through a prayer, we would like to seek reconciliation between Slovaks and gypsies, and also the Church, because we have hurt ourselves and it must end. It’s time to dump her and move on. “
He said Francis is key in the process.
“Kosice must remind the world that all big cities have a dark side that we do not want to see. And Francis’ greatness is that he pays attention to us, “he said. “We are ashamed of our past faults, but we try to fix them.”
Andrea Buckova, the Slovak government’s envoy for gypsy issues, said she hoped Francis’ trip would give a boost to the area “for the next few days and months, not just a one-time move.”
News of the pope’s visit has spread rapidly to every corner of Lunik IX, raising the expectations of its 6,000 inhabitants.
“I’ve heard of him tending to visit the poorest, which may be the reason he decided to come because this is the poorest neighborhood in Slovakia,” Monika Gulasova said. The 19-year-old high school student leads a choir at Sunday Masses in a church established by the Salesians.
“For me it means it will bring new light and hope to our neighborhood,” he said.
She and several members of her choir, whose drumming to the beat of the drums creates an unusual sound for a Mass in this Roman Catholic stronghold, will be among those chosen to sing by Francis.
“It simply came to our notice then. It is (a gift) from the Lord, it comes from the Lord who will be in Lunik IX, ”said Anna Turtakova, 67.
Sana, the first local gypsy mayor with a university degree, took over in 2014. This led to a series of improvements to the concrete floor blocks of the communist era. The famous piles of rubbish have been left behind and uninhabitable buildings have been demolished. Lanterns are repositioned while dozens of surveillance cameras help ensure safety and order. The local school is well looked after and playgrounds have been opened for children in the area.
But from the stage that will be built for Francis in front of the Salesian center, it will be obvious that despite the mayor’s effort and recent improvements, poverty still rules here.
On the banks of Lunik IX, the poorest occupy a slum formed by makeshift huts scattered among trees and bushes.
Jan Horvath, who lives there with his wife and four children, had planned to go see the Pope with his family, but did not expect much.
“We’ll see what he brings us, but no one will help us,” the 41-year-old said. “We have to trust ourselves.”
With the hot summer days coming to an end soon, he is worried about staying warm during the icy winter months.
One of his neighbors, Dyoniz Horvath, 56, was more positive about the papal trip.
“Hopefully, at least something will change for us. After all, it is the second hand of the Lord or Jesus Christ. Who else should we trust than him? ”
Francis arrives in Slovakia after a brief stay in Hungary on Sunday. While in the country until Wednesday, he will also visit the capital, Bratislava, as well as Presov and Sastin.
The last papal visit to Slovakia was made in 2003 by Pope John Paul II.