The Pope’s Address in Hungary: Budapest as a City of History, Bridges, and Saints

Inese Steinert – Vatican

First of all, the city of history. The capital of Hungary has ancient origins, evidenced by the remains of Celtic and Roman times. Much of the beauty we see today was created when Budapest was the capital of Austria-Hungary. Born in a time of peace, later the city got to know painful conflicts – not only invasions of distant lands, but also Nazi and communist dictatorships. The Pope noted that tens of thousands of inhabitants, mostly Jews, were deported during the Second World War, while the remaining Jews were imprisoned in ghettos and subjected to extermination. In this context, Francis mentioned the Righteous Among the Nations, including the Apostolic Nuncio Angelo Rotta.

Budapest was founded 150 years ago, in 1873, by uniting three cities – Buda, Obud and Pest. The Pope said that the birth of this great capital in the heart of the European continent is a reminder of the united movement that was launched in Europe. However, “in the world we live in today, the love of a common policy and multilateralism seems to be just a beautiful dream of the past. It seems that we are witnessing the sad demise of the dream of peace dreamed in the choir, while the war soloists make room for themselves”, said Francisks. He noted with regret that zones are being marked, differences are being defined, nationalisms are showing up again, others are being judged and harshly treated. At the international level, politics seems to be fueling hatred rather than solving problems, forgetting the maturity achieved after the horrors of war and regressing to a certain infantilism of war. “But peace will not come from the pursuit of selfish strategic interests, but from politics that can look at everything as a whole, from the development of everything: from attention to people, especially the poor, as well as from thoughts about tomorrow, not only about power, profit and to the possibilities of the present,” the Pope said in an address to Hungarian statesmen, diplomats and representatives of civil society.

The Holy Father affirmed that Europe has an essential role at this moment in history because, thanks to its history, it bears witness to the “memory of humanity”. Therefore, it is called to unite those who are far away, to accept peoples within itself and not to allow anyone to remain an enemy forever. “It is important to find again the soul of Europe, the enthusiasm and dream of its founders, the dream of those people who knew how to look beyond their time, beyond national borders and immediate needs, creating a diplomacy capable of uniting, not distancing and dividing,” said the Pope. “Where are the creative peace efforts today,” he asked, also mentioning war-torn Ukraine.

Continuing, Francis turned to Budapest as the “city of bridges”. He noted that this pearl of the Danube is special precisely because of the bridges that unite its various parts in a harmonious way. This harmony with the environment prompted the Pope to compliment the ecological concerns that Hungary has undertaken with a great sense of duty. “But the bridges that unite different realities also make us think about how important unity is,” Francis said, adding that unity does not mean uniformity. The Pope cited the Constitution of Hungary, which states that “individual freedom can only develop in cooperation with others” and “recognize that our national culture is a rich contribution to the united diversity of Europe.” The Holy Father called to think about a Europe that would not have fallen prey to individual parties, a prey to self-sufficient populisms, forgetting about its peoples. This would be the path of “ideological colonization” that destroys differences, as is the case, for example, in the so-called “gender culture”, or opposes the reality of life to concepts that reduce freedom, for example, considering the “right to abortion” as an achievement. “How beautiful, on the other hand, it would be to build Europe, putting people and those nations in the center, where policies favorable to birth and family rule,” said the guest from Hungary.

The third and final aspect of the “city” highlighted by the Pope while in Budapest is the “city of saints”. First of all, it is Saint Stephen – the first king of Hungary, who lived at a time when Christians in Europe were in complete unity. Blessed is his son Emerick and blessed is his wife Gisela. The Pope quoted one of St. Stephen’s recommendations to his son Emerick: “Be kind not only to your family and relatives, or to those who have power and property, or to those close to you and your citizens, but also to strangers.” In the spirit of a true Christian, St. Stephen noted that “the practice of love leads to the highest happiness” and called: “be meek, never to war against the truth.”

“It is impossible to name all the confessors of the Holy Pannonian faith,” said the Pope. He also wanted to mention Saint Ladislaus and Saint Margarita, as well as the great men of faith of the last century – Cardinal Jozef Mindszenty, the blessed bishops-martyrs Vilmos Apora and Zoltan Meshleny, blessed Laszlo Bathiani Stratman. Beginning his apostolic journey through Hungary, the Pope bequeathed this land and its inhabitants to the patronage of the saints and blessed, and thanked for the reception and listening. “God bless the Hungarians,” he prayed at the end of the meeting with state and public authorities.