Pilgrims react to Pope presiding over mass in Kaunas
(23 Sep 2018) Pope Francis has paid tribute to Lithuanians who died and suffered during Soviet and Nazi occupations on the day the country remembers the near-extermination of its centuries-old Jewish community during the Holocaust.
Francis began his second day in the Baltics in Lithuania's second city, Kaunas, where an estimated 3,000 Jews survived out of a community of 37,000 during the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation.
Tens of thousands of worshippers filled Santakos Park near the city's cathedral to celebrate Mass on Sunday.
Local residents attending Mass expressed that Francis' visit felt important to them, and one stressed that religion had played a significant role in the country's independence fight against periods of occupation.
Francis is travelling to the Baltics to mark the 100th anniversaries of the three countries' independence and to encourage the faith in the region, which saw five decades of Soviet-imposed religious repression and state-sponsored atheism.
The Baltic countries declared their independence in 1918 but were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 and remained part of it until the early 1990s, except for the 1941-1944 Nazi occupation during World War II.
All three joined the European Union and NATO in 2004 and are strong backers of the military alliance, which sees them as a bulwark against Russian incursions in Eastern Europe.
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Christmas in Kaunas
A short Movie I made showing how beautiful Kaunas Old Town is in December
Lithuania, Vilnius
My face sums up this trip, fucking awesome.
II laida Senosios miesto kapinės
Pažintis su anapilin išėjusiais, Panevėžyje gyvenusiais ir miestą garsinusiais žmonėmis