Sorry, but in the fervor of the day, I missed one of the meetings that the Holy Father had today, specifically with members of the Diplomatic Corps and with Civil and Political Authorities.
Since the Holy Father is indeed a Head of State (remember that Vatican City is an independent State), he has the right not only to meet with Catholics when travelling to other lands, but with members of political stature as well. Often, the words that are exchanged at this level are akin to the closed-door meetings of Presidents and Prime Ministers, and even the odd Governor General, except that the texts of the Holy Father's greetings, speeches and exhortations at this level are often published for the world to see. This visit to the Czech Republic is no exception.
This historic meeting has special significance since the place of the encounter, the Presidential Palace of Prague, once housed the offices of the Holy Roman Emperor.
Stepping back in time seems to be the theme of the day as the Holy Father treads the places where significant personalities in our faith history once lived, worked, suffered and died. What's most interesting though is that although to the naked eye, there seemed to be little or no attention paid to the arrival of the leader of the world's Roman Catholics, experience has proven that whereever the Pope visits, a renewed life seems to be kindled among believers.
Only time will tell whether this will hold true this time too.
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