“A propitious occasion to deepen the spiritual and cultural legacy inherited from the two brothers from Thessalonica – a moral heritage we should increasingly preserve and promote”. Pope Francis said this today as he received in audience a delegation of MPs from the Czech and Slovak Republics, to mark the 1150^th anniversary of the death of St. Cyril, “whose mission – the tribute paid by Pope Francis – has indelibly marked the history, art and culture of your countries”. “Your history shows that Christianity has always been a source of hope and the strength of the recovery, especially in the darkest and most difficult times”, the Pope noted, according to whom “the translation of the Bible into the old Slavic language was a gift both for religious life and for the cultural development of your lands”. “Besides direct access to Sacred Scripture in local language, Saints Cyril and Methodius also brought the so-called Slavonic alphabet”, Pope Francis continued, stressing that “the biblical-Christian message has helped the emergence of the legal state both in your countries and in your neighbouring countries. Christianity, proclaimed through preaching and the celebration of the liturgy, marked an epochal change for your society”.