On Thursday, 21 June, the Saeima adopted as urgent in the final reading amendments to the Law on Holidays, Remembrance Days and Days to be Marked making the day of His Holiness Pope Francis’ to  visit Latvia, 24 September 2018, a holiday. 

In the annotation to the amendments, the authors of the amendments note that the pastoral visit will be an important event for Christians throughout Latvia. In 2016, there were almost 340 000 Catholics in Latvia, and the authors stress that the pastoral visit is expected to attract the interest of other denominations as well. In order to ensure that people can take part in the events surrounding the visit, 24 September has been deemed a holiday.

An ecumenical service will be held at the Dome Cathedral as part of the pastoral visit, and a Holy Mass will also be celebrated at the Aglona Basilica. The only other papal visit to Latvia took place 25 years ago, on 8 September 1993, when Pope John Paul II visited Latvia.

Saeima Press Service