The visit Pope Francis will pay to Hungary provides an opportunity for the country to present to the world its diverse thousand-year Christian culture, the deputy group leader of the allied ruling Christian Democrats (KDNP) said on Wednesday.
Lorinc Nacsa discussed the pontiff’s visit set for next week at a roundtable with Tamas Toth, the secretary of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and Mark Aurel Erszegi, an expert on the Vatican, hosted by the Alliance of Young Christian Democrats in Budapest.
Nacsa noted that at his meeting with various Catholic communities, Pope Francis will have the opportunity to get a more precise idea about the diversity of those communities in Hungary than during his past visit in 2021 when he celebrated the closing mass of the International Eucharistic Congress. “Also, those communities may receive encouragement from the Catholic leader,” he said.
Toth called it an honour from the pope to be interested in meeting the Hungarian Catholic community for the third time, after having met them first at the traditional mass he celebrated at Sumuleu Ciuc (Csiksomlyo), in central Romania in 2019, and next at the Eucharistic Congress closing mass at Budapest’s Heroes’ Square in 2021. Pope Francis’ interest “can stimulate in us humility and self-reflection and an urge to try to understand the message” of the attention with which he is turning to that community, Toth added.
Erszegi highlighted the pope’s visit to the Pazmany Peter Catholic University, noting that a papal schedule would normally not include a visit to a university. “The special part of the pope’s visit to Hungary will therefore be this programme,” he said.
Pope Francis will pay a visit to Hungary between April 28 and 30.
