“A warm welcome to St James’ Cathedral!”. This is how the Lutheran Archbishop of Riga, Mgr. Zbigņevs Stankevičs, welcomed Pope Francis to St James’ Cathedral for the ecumenical prayer meeting which opened with the greeting of Pope Francis to the 10 leaders of the main Christian denominations and continued with singing, the entrance procession and veneration at the tomb of Saint Meinhard. “The Catholic faithful in Latvia are like a small flock”, but “like salt and yeast, they can bring about newness in cultural and economic processes”, the Archbishop said: “Our elderly people are here, in this cathedral. They are here with their life experience, which started and continued before World War II, during the war and in the difficult post-war period, dominated by atheistic ideology with all its threats and restrictions. There are people among us who have suffered political repression, who have been persecuted and exiled because of their faith in Christ. There are pensioners on low pensions who sometimes barely manage to make ends meet. There are also people among us who have kept their faith in Christ during the atheistic regime, who today, despite their poverty, offer their service in parishes and anywhere else it is needed, for instance in the Legio Mariae. And there are women religious who have lived out their consecration to God even in persecution. “All these people also represent those elderly who are unable to meet His Holiness, but follow his visit to Latvia via Radio Maria and the Catholic media that make it possible for them to participate in prayers and the liturgy”, the Lutheran Pastor concluded.