Pope Francis’ Hungary Trip to Shine Hope for IDPs from Neighboring Ukraine

Budapest, 27 April, 2023 / 8:00 PM

Pope Francis will be in Hungary between April 28-30, a visit expected to shine hope for millions of people who have fled from the war in Ukraine and are now living in the central European country.

The Holy Father returns to Hungary after a short visit in 2021 for the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress.

In an interview with the Catholic News Agency (CNA), ACI Africa’s news agency in the U.S., ahead of the visit, the General Secretary of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference, Mons. Tamàs Toth, said that Pope Francis' call to persevere in the search for peace in Ukraine, which shares 135 km of border with Ukraine is especially a vital element of his visit.

Mons. Tóth described Hungary as “a bridge” between her neighbors, noting that the country has always been concerned about restoring peace in Ukraine.

“Throughout its thousand-year history, Hungary has always acted as a bridge between East and West, North and South. Therefore, it has always been fundamental for us to understand the priorities of the nations surrounding us,” the General Secretary of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference said.

He added, “Ukraine is a neighboring country, and peace must be established soon. We are concerned for all people in Ukraine, including members of the Hungarian minority in Transcarpathia.”

The Holy Father last visited Hungary in September 2021, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, escalating the Russia-Ukraine war that has led to massive casualties. As of 12 March 2023, the United Nations estimates that 21,965 civilian casualties have been recorded in Ukraine, including the 8,231 killed and the 13,734 injured from the start of the war on 24 February 2022.

The UN estimates that since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, over four million people have fled Ukraine through Hungary. Of the four million, 35,000 have applied for Temporary Protection status in Hungary, and many thousands more have found safety in the country.

In the interview with CNA, Mons. Tóth underscores the importance of the three-day visit of the Holy Father to Hungary, saying, “Pope Francis' appeal to persevere in asking for peace in Ukraine is particularly relevant.”

The Hungarian Bishops' Conference General Secretary adds, “Thanks be to God, Catholic charitable associations are strong here, with many national and local initiatives.”

“The two largest, Caritas and the Order of Malta's Hungarian Charity Service working in ecumenical unity with other organizations and state institutions, have done a particularly outstanding job in welcoming and caring for refugees from the war in Ukraine. As a result, Hungary has welcomed more than a million refugees.”

The motto of Pope Francis' trip to Hungary is “Christ is our future”, a theme which the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Peter Cardinal Erdő, says means that the presence of Christ is the hope by which Christians live, especially in Central and Eastern Europe.

“In our opinion,” Cardinal Erdő said in a separate interview with CNA, “the Pope's visit will strengthen our faith and give us much hope.”

“When the Pope appears in an apostolic visitation, the faithful feel Jesus Christ himself in his person. Because we indeed encounter Christ in the sacraments, in the poor but in a special way in the Vicar of Christ, and the world needs hope, a future,” the Hungarian Cardinal said.

He said that the motto “Christ is our future” seems to be a revolutionary argument in a world that is increasingly secularized. 

The Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, however, underlined that, in reality, this is the real situation of Christians because “Christ has always been revolutionary even in his times. Faith is always a revolutionary attitude.”

In his trip to Budapest, Pope Francis is expected to meet authorities and Bishops.

The three-day Papal visit will also entail a meeting with the world of culture, a meeting with refugees, and one with members of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In addition, other Christian and religious representatives were invited to the final Mass in Kossuth Square.

During the trip, Pope Francis is set to address one of his rare speeches to the world of culture, and in particular to the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, which is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its foundation this academic year.

The Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest says that the visit to the Pázmány Péter Catholic University is important, and explains, “One of the greatest challenges of the Catholic Church in Hungary is the youth. In recent decades we have seen the restitution of quite a few schools that were previously Catholic, and then we have been able to take over the management of other schools at the request of most parents. For this reason, between 15 and 17 percent of the country's schools are under Catholic management.”

 

Meanwhile, Mons. Tóth has explored the growth of the Catholic Church in Hungary, which he says is seen in the expansion of Church-run institutions and the growth of parishes.

“We are happy to say that today in Hungary, almost 150,000 young people are receiving a Catholic education, and we have almost 17,000 university students,” he told CNA.

In addition, around 3,000 churches have been built in Hungary in the last 10 years Mons. Tóth says, and explains that the growth is because “on the one hand, the places where we gather for religious functions are important to us, on the other, the government also strongly supports the restructuring of churches, since it considers these places as cultural heritage.”

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Christianity continues to thrive today in Hungary, with over a third of the population said to identify as Roman Catholic, many of whom live in the western and northern parts of the country.

Mons. Tóth has expressed optimism that the message of Pope Francis will strengthen the young people in Hungary to further steer the growth of the Church amid the “changing world”.

“We are confident that the presence of the Pope can strengthen in our young people and all of us the feeling of not being alone in this rapidly changing and challenging world: they are part of a greater whole, the universal Church, which under the guidance of the successor of St. Peter, he watches over them, over us and to whom he cares a lot. Therefore, Christ's message is relevant and attractive even in a changing world,” he said.