To conclude his three-day Apostolic Journey to Hungary, Pope Francis on Sunday, April 30th, celebrated Mass in front of tens of thousands of faithful Christians gathered on the banks of the Danube in Budapest’s historic, iconic Kossuth Lajos Square, calling for, among other things, a unified and receptive Europe and peace in Ukraine.
Speaking in front of 50,000 people under the bright spring sunlight, the Pontiff encouraged those gathered—and more broadly the people of Europe—to open their door to migrants and the poor and called for a swift end to the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Budapest-based newspaper Magyar Hirlap reports.
Among those gathered were Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, President Katalin Novák, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Archbishop of Budapest Hilarion Alfeyev, the envoy of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, as well as high-level representatives from Hungary’s other Christian churches and the Jewish community.
“How sad and painful it is to see closed doors,” Pope Francis said, adding, “the closed doors of our selfishness with regard to others; the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference toward the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close toward those who are foreign or unlike us, toward migrants and the poor.”
“Please, let us open those doors,” he urged both the clergy and lay people. “Let’s be open to each other and welcoming in order to help Hungary grow on the path of brotherhood and peace!
Francis prayed for peace to come to Ukraine and “a future of hope, not war; a future full of cradles, not tombs; a world of brothers and sisters, not walls.”
To conclude the Mass, the head of the Catholic Church expressed thanks to the Hungarian people for the exceptionally warm welcome and for the love he felt during his visit—his first foreign visit since being admitted to the hospital in Rome last month due to a respiratory infection.
“I am grateful to you for these days, I carry you in my heart, and I ask you to pray for me,” he said. “God, bless the Hungarians!”
Later that day, on his flight back to Rome, Francis revealed that the Vatican is involved in a secret Ukraine peace mission, but gave no further details.
“I am willing to do everything that has to be done. There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” he said.
I think that peace is always made by opening channels. You can never achieve peace through closure.
… This is not easy.
Days earlier, on Friday, April 28th, the first day of the pontiff’s visit, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán posted a photo with the Pope on social media where he emphasized that Hungary and Francis both were seeking to achieve peace in Ukraine.
“Welcome to Hungary, Pope Francis! It is important for Hungary that the spiritual leader of the Christian world is on the side of peace,” Orbán said.
