As the plane touched down at Vilnius Airport, John Paul II first kissed the soil of Lithuania…
“I have longed to visit your land, which is especially dear to me! As soon as I was elected to the See of St. Peter the Apostle by the inscrutable will of God, I hastened to the Lithuanian Chapel of the Mother of Mercy in the vaults of the Vatican Basilica. There, at the feet of the Virgin Mary, I prayed for you all.”
“This land of yours is dear to the entire Christian people spread across five continents! Lithuania is a silent witness to a fervent love for religious freedom which, as I have emphasized many times, is the foundation of all other human and social freedoms. Lithuania has always striven to testify to its loyalty to the Catholic Church; it has walked a long, painful path to freedom and has become renowned as a land of martyrs and confessors.” (From the speech of John Paul II at Vilnius Airport)
These beautiful words to the Lithuanians were not only a sign of gratitude to our nation but also an exhortation and a challenge to preserve our faithfulness to God, which remains the guarantor of our nation’s values and even of basic humanity.