This Thursday, Pope John Paul II travels to Slovakia

This Thursday, Pope John Paul II travels to Slovakia. It's his 102nd foreign trip as pope and his third to Slovakia; in four days, the ailing 83-year old Pontiff intends to visit as many cities in the small Central European republic and celebrate three masses before hundreds of thousands of believers. The visit will focus on the role of the church in an expanding European Union. The Catholic Church is doing well in Slovakia. According to the 2001 census, 84 percent of Slovakia's 5.4 million population believe in God; a large majority of no less than 69 percent of them are Catholics. An additional four percent belong to the Unitarian Greek Orthodox Church, which recognises the authority of the Pope in Rome, although believers worship according to the Byzantine rites. Since the collapse of communism in 1989, churches in Slovakia are crowded; more churches are being built; a growing number of parents are sending their children to catechism classes; and the number of young candidates for priesthood is increasing. The Catholic Church is more than ever the dominant moral authority in the country in discussions on abortion, euthanasia, and the role of the family.