“Dear brothers and sisters, the end of the year treated us to very cheerful news: a veritable Christmas present. After years of waiting and praying, we have learnt that Pope Francis will be visiting Estonia next year”. This is the beginning of the letter written by bishop Philippe Jourdan on December 8th and posted today on the website of the Estonian Catholic Church. “For Christians, the Pope’s visit is the expression of the most meaningful reality, because the Pope is directly associated with Jesus Christ”, he is the one that embodies “Peter the Apostle”. “Love and loyalty to the Holy Church and to the Pope” have always been the distinctive features of Catholics and, to quote St Ambrogio, mgr. Jourdan writes, “we can say that, along with the Pope, along with Peter, the whole Church in the world will be visiting us”, so “a Pope’s visit is mainly a spiritual event”. “The most appropriate way to wait for it” is “by perceiving it as God’s call, to which everyone must personally respond”. Preparing such visit mainly means praying, therefore. “I know very well that the Pope’s visit is welcomed not only by us, as Catholics, but by many other Christians as well”, mgr. Jourdan writes on, pointing out that Pope Francis was invited “along with the archbishop of the Estonian Lutheran Evangelical Church (whom I am particularly grateful to)”. “I hope many Estonians may meet Pope Francis and may be ready to open their hearts to his words”.