Pope Francis is ready to leave for Hungary. Apostolic journey to the heart of Europe “where the icy winds of war continue to blow, while the movement of so many people places urgent humanitarian issues on the agenda” – Reuters
Pope Francis is leaving for Hungary this Friday morning for three days which is a “completion” of the trip he made on September 12, 2021 for the International Eucharistic Congress. It will be an opportunity, the Pontiff confided on Sunday after the recitation of the Regina Caeli, “to re-embrace a Church and a people so dear to us”. And it will also be, Francis underlined, “a journey to the center of Europe, on which the icy winds of war continue to blow, while the movements of many people place urgent humanitarian issues on the agenda”.
Speaking to the Vatican media, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin remarked that this 41st international trip of Pope Francis “is a bit like the happy fulfillment of a promise”. So in 2021 there were private meetings with the authorities, then with the bishops and finally with Christians of other confessions and with representatives of the Jewish communities.
With the new apostolic journey, underlined the Pope’s closest collaborator, “he intends first of all to continue and complete his previous visit to Budapest, and so the journey will be dedicated for most of the time to meetings with the various groups, with the various components of the Hungarian people», and in particular «with the marginalized world – we think above all of the many refugees from neighboring Ukraine -, with young people – we are almost on the eve of World Youth Day which will be held this time right on the European continent, in August, in Lisbon – and then with the world of culture».
It will be a journey, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, who “wants to reach different parts of society and the Church of the country, in which the local government is working to encourage participation as much as possible, facilitating internal travel to allow reaching Budapest”. Among the themes of the journey, first of all Bruni cited that of hope, also referring to “the liturgical time we are living, and which speaks of the Resurrection, speaks of the future, as the motto of the journey states: ‘Christ is our future’ ». “We are a few hundred kilometers from the border with Ukraine”, the Vatican spokesman pointed out regarding possible words of the Pope “on pain and the search for peace”.
Among the highlights of the trip, there will also be a meeting with refugees. “In Ukraine there are many Ukrainian refugees, but also many refugees from different places who want to reach Europe from the Balkan route”, underlined Bruni, according to whom even the “ecological challenge, in a country like Hungary which gives great attention to this topic» could be a subject of the six papal speeches, all delivered in Italian. Tomorrow morning departure from Fiumicino airport on an ITA Airways flight with zero CO2 environmental impact.
Landing in Budapest is scheduled at 10 am at Budapest Airport. At 11, the welcome ceremony in Piazzale Palazzo “Sándor”, followed by a private visit to the President of the Republic. At 11.55 the meeting with the prime minister, Viktor Orban, who immediately before will have a meeting with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and the “staff” of the Secretariat of State.
Pope Francis’ first speech, the one addressed to the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps, is scheduled for 12.20 at the former Carmelite monastery, seat of the head of government. In the afternoon, at 17, the meeting with the bishops, priests and religious in the co-cathedral of Santo Stefano.
On Saturday the Pope will travel at 8.30 by car to the “Blessed Laszlo Batthyany-Strattamann” Institute for the blind founded in 1982. Francis will then move to the church of Sant’Elizabetta where he will meet the poor and refugees. At 11.30 the visit to the Greek-Catholic community, added later in the program. In the afternoon the Pope will go to Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, the largest indoor stadium in Budapest, where he will meet young people. Then, after returning to the nunciature, the traditional private meeting with the members of the Society of Jesus.
Sunday morning the Pope will celebrate Mass in the morning. In the afternoon the meeting with the university and cultural world. At 6.00 pm take-off for Fiumicino where arrival is expected at 7.55 pm.
In addition to the heads of the Secretariat of State, the papal retinue also includes archbishops Claudio Gugerotti and Robert Francis Prevost, prefects, respectively, of the Dicastery for Oriental Churches and that for bishops.