A few days before Pope Francis’ 41st international pastoral visit, Vatican News interviewed Fr. Fabry, head of Catholic Hungary’s national pastoral affairs. He said that Hungarians, especially young people, are eagerly awaiting the visit of the Pope, who will meet the Pope in a stadium with more than 10,000 seats.
(Vatican News Network)“We are trying to better prepare for this visit in a spirit of love and prayer.” This is Fabbri, president of the Catholic Hungarian National Pastoral College (Kornél FábryFr. ) emphasized in a recent interview with Vatican News about Pope Francis’ visit to the country that he served as Secretary General of the 52nd International Congress of the Eucharist, which will be held in Hungary in September 2021. He explained that “this visit of the Pope will not be like at the International Congress of the Eucharist, where he will only meet with bishops and religious leaders, but also with priests, seminarians and the faithful of the parish”. Especially “to meet young people in a stadium with more than 10,000 seats, to reach out to the disabled and refugees with his loving care. My first thoughts are those Ukrainians, more than a million Ukrainians came last year Hungary”.
Referring to the meeting between young people and the Pope, the National Pastoral Affairs Director of Catholic Hungary explained: “The number of applicants to meet the Pope in the stadium has exceeded the number of seats, reaching 11,000. Many applicants come from parishes, and some From universities, not only from Catholic universities. The Pope will have two meetings with young people: in the stadium with young people, and on the final day with young people from the cultural world and universities. Many young people would like to pray with the Pope.”
The central element of the logo for the pope’s visit to Hungary is the bridge, which is the symbol of Budapest. This bridge brings people together for dialogue, an invitation that Pope Francis extends to young and old. “In our Church we encourage dialogue between young and old, for example in the liturgy. Both young and old listen to the most modern and popular songs. There is a pastoral duty,” said Fr Fabbri. : It is to promote solidarity between young and old. In the parish I served, every festival was celebrated for the family, including grandparents. It is important to listen and accept them, they are our role models! In our day and age where the online world seems so distant from the elders, what I often see is grandchildren teaching their grandparents how to use chat and the internet. It’s good that we move forward hand in hand.”
Afterwards, Father Fabbri specifically talked about the extensive pastoral work of the Hungarian Catholic Church in health and medical care. For example, in the Archdiocese of Budapest, there are priests who are responsible for helping the blind to participate in the liturgy. Finally, he said: “I think it is very important to organize special and specific events. I am thinking of Masses dedicated to disabled people, who are the treasure of the Church. The Pope’s meeting with these (disabled) children is very important, and the Pope will Meeting privately with the (disabled) kids and their parents. He would like to spend some time with them and encourage them.”
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