President of the Republic of Slovenia Borut Pahor highlighted in a mournful address on behalf of the State that we are together in grief and mourning when many of us have lost our loved ones due to the coronavirus, and that we have developed solidarity and compassion during this time.  “Fear and pain are overcome through hope and interconnectedness,” said the President of the Republic, who went on to say that although filled with bitterness we also admired the most honourable deeds of all those who reached out in the fight against this disease. “We had a tough year, and lonely, too. We all experienced losses and learned to live in a way previously strange to us," said the President, adding that this was an unusual time during which each one of us was reflecting on what the world was like before and what it would be like afterwards. “But the more we were isolated, the more we felt we needed each other,” the President went on, stressing that we must accept all the precious lessons of the time to finally defeat this virus. On his own behalf and on behalf of the State, the President expressed his very sincere condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones due to coronavirus during the epidemic.

A willow was planted in the park as a symbol of mourning and life, and blessed by the Archbishop of Ljubljana and Metropolitan Monsignor Stanislav Zore. In his address, the Archbishop also placed great importance on the cooperation of everybody in working against this disease, drawing attention to the words of Pope Francis that in the fight against coronavirus we are all in the same boat.