VATICAN Budapest, Pope: borders are “contact zones”, charity “unites” beyond differences

To the patron Virgin of Hungary he entrusted “the future” of the European continent and “in a special way the cause of peace” for a future “of cradles, not graves.” In her homily, she focused on the figure of the Good Shepherd, on the mission “going out”, and exhorted to be an “open door” like Jesus. Yesterday, the meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, with the young people and 600 poor people and refugees. The Pontiff’s warning: charity requires “the courage to touch”.

Budapest () – Borders should not be “limits that separate, but contact zones”, believers should put “first the charity that unites and not the historical, cultural and religious differences that divide” and young people, a “future of hope, not war”. This was highlighted by Pope Francis before the prayer of the Regina Caeli, at the end of the Mass that he concelebrated this morning before 50,000 faithful gathered in Kossuth Lajos Square, in Budapest, during the last day of his apostolic trip to Hungary. In a world marked by violence, the Gospel “unites us”, and it is by returning to the source “that the journey among Christians will continue according to the will of Jesus”, the “Good Shepherd who wants us united in one flock”. He then addressed the Virgin – the Magna Domina Hungarorum, queen and patroness to whom he paid homage with a silent prayer at the end of the mass – to whom he entrusted the Hungarians and placed in his heart “faith and the future of all the european continent […] and especially the cause of peace”.

“Holy Virgin, look at the peoples who suffer the most. Look above all at the nearby and tormented Ukrainian people and the Russian people, consecrated to You,” said Pope Francis, who also addressed a “special remembrance” to the sick and elderly and those who have lost faith in God and hope in life. “You who are the Queen of Peace, instill in the hearts of men and those responsible for nations the desire to build peace, to give to the young generations a future of hope, not war; a future full of cradles, not graves; a world of brothers, not walls”.

Previously, in the homily for the Mass on the IV Sunday of Easter, he focused on the figure of the Good Shepherd and the meaning of the mission “going out”, making us, like Jesus, an “open door”. “It is sad and it hurts – he said – to see the closed doors: the closed doors of our egoism towards those who walk beside us every day; the closed doors of our individualism in a society that runs the risk of atrophying in loneliness; the doors closed from our indifference towards those who suffer and are poor, the closed doors towards those who are foreigners, different, migrants, poor, and even the closed doors of our ecclesial communities: closed between us, closed towards the world, closed towards those who “do not comply with the rules”, closed to those who “long for God’s forgiveness”. Hence the call to those present – among whom, in addition to the faithful, priests and ecclesiastical leaders, diplomats and institutions, there was also a delegation from the Jewish community – especially to the bishops and pastors: “Please: open the doors!”

In his reflection, the Pope called for us to be “open and inclusive with one another,” attacking those who keep doors closed. And addressing the country’s ruling class and its people, he asked them to “help Hungary grow in brotherhood”, recalling once again the epochal challenge of migration, which cannot be met with walls. Hence the return to the figure of the Good Shepherd who “gives his life for his sheep” performing two actions: “First he calls them, then he leads them out.” At the beginning there is the “call of God”, as the apostle Peter emphasized in the second reading: “You wandered like sheep, but now you have been led back to the shepherd and guardian of his souls”. The task of Christians, he reminded him, is “to make their flock inclusive and never exclusive.” […] without letting ourselves get caught up in the concern of defending each one of their own space, but opening ourselves to love”.

After having called his sheep, the shepherd “brings” them out of the fold, sending them into the world so that “with courage and without fear” they become heralds of the Gospel. A movement that we can capture from the image of the door, which is Jesus, through whom we enter and exit. “Jesus is the door – he continued – that opened wide to let us enter into the communion of the Father and experience his mercy”, but “after having led us back into the embrace of God […] makes us go out into the world. It drives us”, the Pope said, “to go out to meet our brothers and sisters”, without excluding anyone. We need the courage to “reach all the peripheries that need the light of the Gospel”, he commented, referring to the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium.

Also yesterday was an intense day in Budapest for the pontiff, who met with Metropolitan Hilarion, with more than 600 poor people and refugees gathered inside and outside the church of Saint Elisabeth and with a delegation of young Hungarians. Particularly valuable due to the attention that the Argentine pope always shows to the issue of migrations, was also the meeting with the poor and refugees, in which he recalled that faith should not be “prey to a kind of spiritual selfishness”, but should be uncomfortable to go out to meet those in need. In this sense, Francis praised the figure of the saint, to whom the Hungarian people are devoted, who followed the example of the poor man of Assisi, stripping himself of wealth to dedicate his life to the least.

During the meeting with the poor and refugees, the Pontiff listened to the testimonies of three families, one of them of Ukrainian origin, who fled about a year ago when the bombings caused serious damage in their city. And touching on the theme of charity, he stressed that it is not simply a question of material and social assistance, but that it takes care of the person through the love of Jesus, which helps to recover beauty and dignity. “To do charity – he explained – you need the courage to touch, you cannot give alms from a distance without touching”.

In a world where walls and divisions are increasing, the Pope affirmed: “This is the witness that is asked of us: compassion towards all, especially towards those marked by poverty, disease and pain. We need a Church that master the language of charity, a universal language that everyone hears and understands, even the furthest away, even those who do not believe”. True faith is the one that “discomforts, the one that takes risks, the one that brings out the poor and makes one capable of speaking the language of charity with life.” As Saint Paul says, “we can speak many languages, possess wisdom and riches, but if we do not have charity we have nothing and we are nothing.” “The love that Jesus gives us and commands us to live then helps to eradicate from society, from the cities and from the places where we live, the evils of indifference, the evil of selfishness, and revives – he concluded, addressing the poor and migrants – the hope of a new humanity, more just and fraternal, where everyone can feel at home”.

Yesterday, Pope Francis also met 12,000 young people who were waiting for him at the Papp László Budapest Sportarena, the main indoor sports center in the Hungarian capital, representing the 45,000 students of Catholic institutes and universities in the country. After listening to some stories, the Pope invited them to look at Christ to “defy the adventure of life without fear.” He doesn’t want “school students repeating a lesson,” but “free and on-the-go youth.” Hence the invitation to go against the current and find a moment of silence every day to stop and pray. Silence, he explained, should not be used to “immerse ourselves in our melancholy” or to remain glued to the mobile, because “life is real, not virtual, it does not take place on a screen” but “in the world”.

Finally, the face-to-face meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, who for 13 years has been the head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and who has resided in Hungary since last year. A meeting that falls within a framework complicated by the Russian war against Ukraine, supported by Patriarch Kirill and which has marked a deep fracture even within the Orthodox world. The meeting between Francisco and Hilarión took place inside the nunciature and was characterized by the “cordial” tone, the embrace between the two and the Pope kissing his pectoral cross.