Slovakia: The profoundly Christian nature of Europe's historical and cultural roots will once again be emphasised by Pope John Paul II when he arrives in Bratislava today for a four-day pastoral visit to the Republic of Slovakia.
Speaking from the very heart of central Europe and from a country that was evangelised in the ninth century by the missionary saints Cyril and Methodius, the Pope is certain to call on the Slovak faithful to strongly proclaim their Christian identity as they prepare for European Union membership next year.
As always, media eyes will be closely focused on the physical wellbeing of the ailing, 83-year-old Pope.
Notwithstanding his much limited mobility these days, the Pope will still have a relatively busy four days during this 102nd overseas trip, his third to Slovakia.
He is scheduled to have meetings with Slovak President Rudolf Schuster and Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, as well as preside at open-air Masses in Banska Bystric, Roznova and Bratislava.
Inevitably, though, at a moment when the Vatican is waging a vigorous campaign to have Europe's specifically Christian identity recognised in the proposed European Union constitution, the Pope will encourage Slovakia's 74 per cent Catholic, 5.4 million population to uphold Catholic morality.
Last year in his native Poland, Pope John Paul 11 urged Catholics to beware of the evils of unbridled Western-style secularism, while in Croatia in June this year, he called on Croatians to defend "God's authentic plan" for the family.
The Catholic Church in Slovakia, in the wake of 40 years of Communist repression, has emerged as a leading moral authority, closely linked to the ruling coalition Christian Democrat party (KDH).
The Pope's visit will doubtless bolster the KDH's ongoing anti-abortion campaign.
During the summer, the KDH appealed to the Constitutional Court in order to overturn legislation that allows women to have abortions in the first three months of pregnancy.
The abortion issue may well also be highlighted during the Pope's visit to Roznova on Saturday when the local Bishop, Eduard Kojnok, intends to have the Pope meet with a pair of Siamese twins in order, he says, "to demonstrate what a mother would lose if she decides to kill them because of a defect".
Not surprisingly, the visit concludes on Sunday with a service in which the Pope will beatify two Slovak martyrs, Bishop Vasil Hopko and Sister Zdenka Schelingova, who died respectively in 1976 and 1955 after long periods of incarceration and torture under the former Czechoslovak communist regime.