President Siljanovska-Davkova attended the funeral Mass for His Holiness, Pope Francis

Macedonian President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova also attended the funeral dedicated to his holiness, Pope Francis.

In front of about 200,000 worshipers and admirers of the Pope, religious leaders, representatives of royal families, heads of state, prime ministers and state delegations were a number of church ceremonies.

-Expressing deep grief and sincere condolences to his death, President Siljanovska-Davkova, in a telegram to the Vatican, emphasized his impressive and inspiring person as the perfect harmony of words and deeds. She once again deserved recognition of the enormous influence she had as a sworn peacemaker, a humanist and a national tribunal, an agent of inter-religious dialogue and reconciliation-reads today’s statement from the Cabinet of Siljanovska-Davkova.

In an exalted setting and Holy Mass, led by Cardinal Giovanni Batista Re huge number present with applause and tears sent the beloved pope to the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, his eternal home!

Unlike his predecessors who rest in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis has left an amendment to be buried in Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the « five papal basils ». In it, in 2015 the plaque was placed in Macedonian in honor of the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius.

Last year, the statement said, the president had an audience with Pope Francis, which he described as an unforgettable event, because of the wise papal thoughts on the most important world issues, but also his respect for our centuries -old tradition of tolerance to diversity and mature awareness of the important role of the social.

Pope Francis is the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to visit our country. During a historic visit in 2019, he said: « Macedonia is the gate through which Christianity has entered Europe, because the inhabitants of the Macedonian soil are the first Europeans to whom the apostle Paul has conveyed Christ’s teaching. »