“Thank you for the way you welcomed – not only with generosity but also with enthusiasm – many refugees from Ukraine”. Pope francesco wanted to thank the Hungarian people for the generous welcome a million Ukrainians fled the war. TO Budapeston the second day of his apostolic visit to the country, Bergoglio met i poor eh refugees in the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Upon his arrival in the country, the Pope had reminded the Hungarian authorities of the words spoken by Robert Schuman in 1950: “’World peace cannot be safeguarded except by creative endeavors, proportional to the dangers that threaten it’. In this historical phase – the Pontiff added – there are many dangers today; but, I wonder, also thinking of the tormented woman Ukrainewhere am I creative peace efforts?”. Significant in this direction is the twenty-minute meeting behind closed doors, defined as “cordial” by the Vatican, between Bergoglio and Hilarionfrom June 2022 Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Of Budapest and of Hungary, but formerly president of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Speaking to poor and you have refugees, Francis underlined that “the poor and the needy – let us never forget this – are at the heart of the Gospel: Jesus, in fact, came ‘to bring good news to the poor’. They, then, show us an exciting challenge, so that the faith we profess is not a prisoner of a cult distant from life and does not become prey to a sort of ‘spiritual selfishness’, that is, a spirituality that I build according to my inner tranquility and my satisfaction. True faith, on the other hand, is the one that inconveniences, that risks, that brings out to meet the poor and makes them capable of speaking the language of charity with life. As Saint Paul affirms, we can speak many languages, possess wisdom and riches, but if we don’t have charity we have nothing and we are nothing”. And he added: “This is the testimony that is required of us: compassion towards everyone, especially towards those who are marked by povertyfrom the illness and from ache. Compassion which means ‘to suffer with’. We need a Church that speaks fluently the language of charity, a universal language that everyone hears and understands, even the furthest away, even those who don’t believe. And in this regard I express my gratitude to the Hungarian Church for the commitment made in charity, a capillary commitment: you have created a network that connects many pastoral workers, many volunteers, the parish and diocesan Caritas, but also prayer groups, communities of believers, organizations belonging to other confessions but united in that ecumenical communion that flows precisely from charity”.
Remembering who undertakes a “’journey to the future’, a different future, far from the horrors of war”, the Pope affirmed that “the memory of the love received rekindles hope, encourages one to embark on new paths in life. Indeed, even in pain and suffering, one finds the courage to go forward when one has received the balm of love: and this is the strength that helps one to believe that all is not lost and that a different future is possible. The love that Jesus gives us and that he commands us to live thus contributes to eradicating from society, from the cities and from the places in which we live, the evils of indifference – indifference is a plague! – and selfishness, and rekindles the hope of a new, more just and fraternal humanity, where everyone can feel at home. Unfortunately, many people here too are literally homeless: many sisters and brothers marked by fragility – alone, with various physical and mental discomforts, destroyed by the poison of drugs, released from prison or abandoned because they are elderly – are affected by serious forms of material, cultural and spiritual poverty, and do not have a roof and a house to live in”.
A testimony which, Bergoglio underlined, “is valid for the whole Church: it is not enough to give the bread that feeds the stomach, there is a need to feed people’s hearts! Charity is not mere material and social assistance, but cares for the whole person and wishes to put him back on his feet with the love of Jesus: a love which helps to regain beauty and dignity. Giving charity means having the courage to look into the eyes. You cannot help another by looking away. To do charity you need the courage to touch: you can’t throw away remote almsgiving without touching. Touch and watch. And so by touching and looking you begin a journey, a journey with that needy person, who will make you understand how needy, how needy you are of the Lord’s gaze and hand. Brothers and sisters, I encourage you to always speak the language of charity”.
To the Hungarian clergy, in the St Stephen’s Co-Cathedral, Francis recalled that “the commitment to enter into dialogue with today’s situations requires the Christian community to be present and witness, to know how to listen to questions and challenges without fear or rigidity. And this is not easy in the current situation, because there is no shortage of hardships inside as well. In particular, I would like to highlight the work overload for priests. On the one hand, in fact, the demands of parish and pastoral life are numerous but, on the other, vocations are declining and priests are few, often advanced in years and with some signs of tiredness. This is a condition common to many European realities, in respect of which it is important that everyone – pastors and laity – feel co-responsible: above all in prayer, because the answers come from the Lord and not from the world, from the tabernacle and not from the computer”.