Pope started his visit to Georgia

Baku. 30 September. REPORT.AZ/ The Pope has today started his visit to Georgia. 

Report informs referring to the Georgian media, Francis was welcomed by the Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili in Tbilisi international airport. 

According to the Georgian media, opponents of the Pope's visit to Georgia staged a protest not far from Tbilisi International Airport. The action against the Pope's visit to Georgia began an hour before the pontiff arrived in Tbilisi. At the airport a group of about 20-30 people - representatives of the Orthodox clergy and laity brought with them posters with inscriptions in Georgian and English: "The Vatican is a spiritual aggressor", "Pope is arhieretik, you are not welcomed in the Orthodox Georgia."

Notably, after the meeting at Presidential palace, Pope will encounter with the civil authorities and diplomatic corps in the courtyard.

On October 1, at the stadium Mikheil Meskhi Pope will perform Holy Mass in the at Mikheil Meskhi stadium. After that Pope will have meeting with priests and religious men and women in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin also with Church's charity workers and those they assist outside the Camillian aid center.

Flight to Baku scheduled for Sunday, October 2. The visit to Azerbaijan will begin with Holy Mass in the Salesian center in Baku. Then a meeting is scheduled with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, visiting the Alley of Martyrs, as well as meetings with the leadership of the Caucasian Muslims Office (CMO), representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Jewish community. The same evening Francis will return to the Vatican.