Cardinal Erdő: "We Catholics in Hungary await the Pope with great affection".Pope Francis in Hungary: "Christ guides history".After celebrating Mass in private earlier in the morning, the Pope visited the children at the Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann Institutewhere he arrived at around 8:45 a.m. The director, György Inotay, greeted the Pope in his welcoming speech with the Franciscan prayer, thanking the Pontiff for his visit. Afterwards, the Pope went to the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary for a meeting with the poor and refugees.
Meeting with the poor and refugees
Francis was received by the parish priest and the president of Caritas Hungary, Msgr. Antal Spányi. "Bishop Ottokár Prohászka urged the Hungarian Church to engage responsibly and effectively with the needy as early as the beginning of the 20th century, and in 1931 Caritas was founded and continued its work with great vigor until 1950, when it was banned by the communist regime. However, it continued to work almost clandestinely in the parishes until 1991, when Caritas Hungary was officially reinstated," said Spányi in his welcoming address.
The meeting included the testimony of a Greek Catholic family, a refugee family from Ukraine and a deacon and his wife.
"The trip took several days, we were very tired, we were able to take very little with us. When we arrived in Hungary, at first there were good people who took care to provide us with accommodation and gave us the help we needed. Later they took us in at the Caritas Catholic Integration Center. We received financial help (...) which was a lifeline for my family in the first days of poverty, and also gave us encouragement and hope. For us and our children, Hungary was the beginning of a new life, a new possibility. Here we were welcomed and found a new home," explained Oleg Yakovlev, father of the Ukrainian refugee family.
Speech at the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
The Pope then gave a speech in which he thanked the Hungarian Church for its charity towards the poor. He pointed out that "the poor and the needy - let us never forget it - are at the heart of the Gospel: Jesus, in fact, came 'to bring the Good News to the poor' (Lc 4,18). They, then, indicate to us an exciting challenge, so that the faith we profess does not become a prisoner of a cult far removed from life and does not become prey to a kind of 'spiritual egoism', that is, of a spirituality that I build to the measure of my inner tranquility and my satisfaction".
In conclusion, he pointed out that "when you strive to bring bread to the hungry, the Lord makes joy blossom and perfumes your existence with the love you give. I wish you to always bring the perfume of charity to the Church and to your country. And I ask you, please, to continue to pray for me".
Following his speech, the Pope paid a visit to the Greek Catholic community of Budapest in the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God.
After lunch at the Nunciature, he had a cordial meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, representative of the Church of Russia.
In the afternoon, the Holy Father met with young people at the Papp László Budapest Sports Arena.
