A meeting with Bratislava's Jewish Community in the central Rybné námestie Square, where the city's Neolog Synagogue was demolished by the government in 1969, provided Pope Francis with the occasion to thank Slovak Jews for their willingness to persevere on the path of rapprochement and friendship. Addressing the community headed by the President of the Central Union of Jewish Religious Communities in the Slovak Republic on the second day of his Apostolic Visit to the nation, the Pope described himself as having come to the encounter as a pilgrim, moved by the history of the meaningful Square where a synagogue once stood alongside the Cathedral of the Coronation.