Index – Abroad – Pope Francis spoke in Hungarian

“God is welcome,” Pope Francis greeted the members of the Hungarian National Pilgrimage in Hungarian on Thursday, reports MTI.

Pope Francis stated that last April he visited Hungary “as a pilgrim, brother, friend” and that he “carries his apostolic journey in his heart with gratitude”.

In Budapest, the city of bridges and saints, we prayed for Europe, for peace, not war, for a hopeful future filled with cradles and not graves, brotherhood and not walls

– said the head of the church. He also asked Hungarians to find the strength and determination in prayer so that they can follow the example of the saints and the blessed even in the current historical circumstances.

He thanked the Hungarians for accepting Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war with an open heart, as well as for making efforts to integrate those living on the fringes of society.

He believed that the Hungarian proverb “It is better to give than to receive”, which he said in Hungarian, summed up the Gospel teaching well.

God, bless the Hungarians!

– the Pope concluded his speech in Hungarian and asked for the protection of the Virgin for Hungarians.

He then went around the audience hall in a wheelchair, greeting the participants almost one by one. Almost half of the audience hall with several thousand people was filled by Hungarian pilgrims.

Pope Francis meets with Tamas Sulyok

President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok shared on his social media page that on April 25 – almost exactly two months after his election – he will visit Pope Francis.

Sulyok’s visit to the Holy Father may seem quite quick – just as his election and inauguration only took a few days – since Katalin Novák had to wait almost four months as president of the republic to meet Pope Francis, while as a minister she had already met the church leader before that. Then he invited the Pope to Hungary, a visit planned for the spring of 2023, and in August of that year Novák traveled to the Vatican again to talk about the war, the protection of children and families.

Thus, for two years, a system has been observed in the meetings between the Hungarian head of state and the leader of the Catholic Church: they meet every year in April and August to discuss current events.

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