In Hungary, Pope Francis calls for the extinction of the fuse of anti-Semitism | Vatican tour in the geographical heart of Europe

From Rome

In a country like Hungary, led by a prime minister like Viktor Orban, one of the most conservative, nationalist and anti-immigrant in the European Union, the dad Francisco -whose ideas on these questions are completely different- met representatives of the Jewish community and He took the opportunity to ask the world to “extinguish the fuse” of the anti-Semitism which is still creeping “in Europe and beyond”.

The meeting with Jewish communities, both in Hungary and Slovakia – where the Pope will stay from Monday to Wednesday – will have a special role, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni explained to journalists during the presentation of the trip. Jewish communities in both countries, in fact, suffered greatly during World War II and the Holocaust. In Hungary, some 565,000 Jews were killed and in Slovakia, around 70,000 were killed, but between 25,000 and 30,000 survived, according to the World Shoah Commemoration Center.

Chain bridge

The best way to turn off the fuse of anti-Semitism “is to work positively together and promote brotherhood,” the Pope stressed. the city, which were once two cities: Buda and Pest. “It doesn’t melt them but keeps them together. This is how our relations should be, ”he concluded.

During the meeting with the World Council of Churches and certain Jewish communities in Hungary held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Francis also stressed that he appreciated the efforts made to “destroy the walls of separation” which existed in the past between Jews and Christians. “Jews and Christians no longer want to see each other again as a stranger but a friend, never an adversary but a brother,” he said.

This is Francis’ 34th trip abroad, which he will have visited in all his 54 papal countries (but never in Argentina), and the first since he had colon surgery last July. On Sunday, the papal flight left around 6:10 a.m. from Rome on an Alitalia flight – the last with this company which was dissolved – with 78 journalists, the Vatican Secretary of State – number two – Pietro Parolin and Monsignor Paul Richard Gallagher , Secretary of State Relations. A group of nurses and doctors responsible for the health of the Pope were also traveling on the plane.

The plane with Francisco and his delegation arrived at Budapest airport at 7.45 a.m. where it was received by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen. With Hungarian President Janos Ader, Prime Minister Orban and Deputy Prime Minister Semjen, he met soon after at the Museum of Fine Arts, for about 40 minutes. It was a “cordial colloquium” according to the Vatican press office, during which issues related to “the Church in the country, the commitment to protect the environment” were discussed – in which Francisco, who wrote an environmental encyclical such as “Laudato Si” Is very important to him-, and “the defense and promotion of the family”.

For its part Orban, who is Protestant, wrote on his Facebook page that he had asked Pope Francis “not to let Christian Hungary disappear”. The Prime Minister gave the Pope a very special gift, which some have interpreted almost as a tacit allusion to the dangers which, according to him, immigrants represent. It was a copy of a letter that the Hungarian King Bela IV wrote to Pope Innocent IV in 1250 and in which he asked for his help against the bellicose Tatars who threatened Christian Hungary.

Francis went to Budapest to conclude the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress with a mass in the Heroes’ Square in that city. According to the organizers, more than 100,000 people participated in the celebration. In the lodge where he was, the Pope greeted and embraced several participants, including the Ecumenical (Orthodox) Patriarch of Constantinopolis Bartolomeo who was present at the Congress.

Slovakia

At around 2:40 p.m., the papal flight left for Slovakia where Francisco and his delegation will stay until September 15. Arrival in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, as scheduled was around 3.30 p.m. local time and at the airport the Pope was received by the country’s president, Zuzana Caputova. During the afternoon, the Pontiff had a few meetings at the Nunciature (Vatican embassy), notably one with members of the Society of Jesus to which the Argentine Pope belongs.

Monday’s papal activities will be concentrated in Bratislava. During the morning you will be received at the Presidential Palace by President Caputova and the diplomatic corps and later you will meet bishops, priests and men and women religious in the Cathedral of San Martino. In the afternoon, Francis will meet the Jewish community in Rybné Namestie Square, where a Holocaust memorial is located and where the Pope will deliver a speech. Later he will receive the members of the Slovak Parliament at the nunciature.

On Tuesday, the Pope will visit the towns of Košice (near the Polish border) and Prešov (the second largest city in Slovakia by number of inhabitants) where he will celebrate the Byzantine liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and visit the Lunik IX district where he has the Roma community (Gypsies) had lived for 30 years. In the afternoon, at the Lokomotiva stadium, he will greet all the young people of Slovakia. The return to Rome is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon 15, after having celebrated a mass at the shrine of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows in Bratislava.