ROB CAMERON

“Populism is not the only way to resolve frustrations,” said Zuzana Caputova. Rays of spring sunshine poured through the windows of a Bratislava café for her first TV interview with the international media since she was elected Slovakia’s first female president. She’s a liberal, pro-EU figure using words like “truth”, “tolerance” and “compassion” – a rarity these days in Central Europe.

The murder of reporter Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová convulsed Slovak society. The wave of public anger and disgust led to the fall of Prime Minister Robert Fico and ultimately the election of liberal Zuzana Čaputová as president. There was also hope (short-lived) that Slovakia could untie the Gordian knot between high-level politics and endemic corruption.

Pope Francis has begun a four-day visit to Slovakia, the first papal visit to the country in 18 years. Typically, he’s going out of his way to embrace the most excluded members of society. He’s spending 70 hours in Slovakia, after just seven in Hungary, and commentators believe Francis was sending a very subtle message to Viktor Orban in Budapest.