At the nearby Museum of Fine Arts, the pope will briefly meet with Hungarian President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. It also plans to meet with Hungarian bishops, representatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches and the Jewish community in Hungary.
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Pope Francis will spend only a few hours in Budapest and fly to Bratislava right after Holy Mass. He will stay in Slovakia for four days, when he will gradually visit Bratislava, Prešov, Košice and the pilgrimage site of Šaštín near the border with the Czech Republic.
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Slap Orbán
According to church analysts, Pope Francis clearly expresses his disagreement with the policy of Prime Minister Orbán, when he spends only a few hours in Budapest and up to four days in smaller Slovakia. The current head of the Catholic Church calls for the reception and integration of migrants and does not like Orbán’s policy against migrants.
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“The Pope’s decision to spend more time in Slovakia than in Hungary needs to be understood in the context of his harsh criticism of nationalist-populist leaders, such as the Hungarian prime minister,” the British Catholic weekly The Tablet warned.
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According to the US National Catholic Register, Hungarian politicians and church leaders tried to persuade the pope to spend more time in their country, but to no avail. The newspaper called it a “huge slap” to Orbán.
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| Pope Francis program on Sunday, September 12, 2021 |
| 06.00 Departure from Rome |
| 07.45 Arrival in Budapest |
| 08.45 Meeting with President Áder and Prime Minister Orbán |
| 09.15 Meeting with bishops |
| 10.00 Meeting with representatives of the Ecumenical Council of Churches and the Jewish community in Hungary |
| 11.30 Holy Mass on Heroes’ Square in Budapest |
| 14.40 Departure from Budapest |
| 15.30 Arrival in Bratislava |
| 16.30 ecumenical meeting at the Apostolic Nunciature in Bratislava |
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