Pope Leo XIV blesses Slovak pilgrimage as thousands mark Sts. Cyril and Methodius feast

Pope Leo XIV sent his blessing to Slovakia’s national pilgrimage in Nitra, where Cardinal Ladislav Nemet urged the faithful to reflect on their Christian roots and bear witness to the faith as tens of thousands marked the feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius across Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

The feast, July 5, is a public holiday in both countries. The main celebrations took place in Nitra, home to the oldest diocese in present-day Slovakia, founded in 880, and in Velehrad in the Czech Republic.

The Byzantine brothers, who devised an alphabet for the Old Slavonic spoken across Great Moravia, are believed to have been active in Nitra, Velehrad, or both in the ninth century.

Nitra’s national pilgrimage In 2025, Cardinal Robert Prevost had been expected to preside over the Nitra Mass. He was instead elected Pope Leo XIV that May and was unable to attend.

This year, the Mass on Saturday, July 4, on the main square in Nitra was celebrated by Nemet, the archbishop of Belgrade, Serbia. Slovak bishops and the apostolic nuncio to Slovakia, Nicola Girasoli, concelebrated, while the current and former presidents of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini and Ivan Gašparovič, joined several…