Francis arrived in Hungary for his apostolic journey. In his speech to the authorities, he warned against a “regression to warlike infantilism” and the absence of “creative peace efforts” regarding Ukraine. No to self-referential populism, but neither to the “disastrous path of ideological colonization that puts reductive concepts of freedom before life.”
Budapest () – “Where are the creative efforts for peace today?” From Budapest, where he arrived this morning for his apostolic trip, which in Hungary will last until Sunday, Pope Francis this morning addressed a strong complaint to Europe about its “role” in the face of the wound of the war in Ukraine. But – from the heart of the continent – he also spoke of the future of the European Union, which must beware of populism and of closing itself to welcoming those who desperately knock on its doors, but also of an “abstract supranationalism, alien to the life of the peoples ” and prone to “disastrous ideological colonizations” on issues such as abortion or the so-called gender culture.
Pope Francis arrived in the Magyar capital around 10 in the morning, where he immediately met in private with the President of the Republic, Katalin Novák, and the Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, with whom he spoke for more than twenty minutes. Later, in the vestibule of the old Carmelite monastery, today the seat of the Government headquarters, he delivered his first speech addressing the authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps.
Pope Francis spoke of Budapest as “a city of history, a city of bridges and a city of saints.” From its long history it recalls the splendor of the belle époque, but also the wounds of the Nazi and communist dictatorships (“how to forget 1956?”). But, above all, it mentions the message of unity that is at its root, with the merger of three different cities (Buda and Óbuda to the west of the Danube with Pest on the opposite bank) 150 years ago. He conveys a clear message to Europe, which “together with the United Nations, in the postwar period represented the great hope in the common goal that a closer bond between nations would prevent further conflict.” Today, however, “the passion for community politics and multilateralism seems a thing of the past: it seems that we are witnessing the sad decline of the choral dream of peace, while the soloists of war make their way. In general, the enthusiasm to build a peaceful and stable community of nations seems to have disintegrated in the minds of the people, while zones are marked, differences are pointed out, nationalisms roar again and judgments and tones towards others become exasperated”. At the international level, it seems that “politics has the effect of exacerbating tempers instead of solving problems”, that it has “regressed to a kind of warlike infantilism”.
To change the course, the Pope explained, Europe is essential. “She is called to play the role that corresponds to her: that of uniting the distant, welcoming peoples into her bosom and not allowing anyone to become an enemy forever.” From Budapest, Francis quoted abundantly from De Gasperi and Schuman. He recalled his insistence on the “creative efforts” necessary to promote peace. “In this historical phase the dangers are many,” the pontiff commented, “but, I wonder, thinking also of the troubled Ukraine, where are the creative efforts for peace?”
But Budapest is also a city of bridges, which become an occasion to reflect “on the importance of unity, which does not mean uniformity”. “I think of a Europe that is not a hostage to the parties, a prisoner of self-referential populism, but that does not become a fluid reality, if not a gas, in a kind of abstract supranationalism, alien to the life of the peoples,” Francisco explained. . And he added: “This is the disastrous path of ‘ideological colonization’, which eliminates differences, as in the case of the so-called gender culture, or which puts reductive concepts of freedom before the reality of life, for example, showing off as achieved a senseless ‘right to abortion’, which is always a tragic defeat.” As an example of a people-centred Europe, he cited “effective birth and family policies, carefully implemented” by Hungary.
But the bridges also extend to the peoples that knock on the doors of Europe. And to remind the Hungarians of this, Pope Francis named the many saints who marked the history of Budapest: for example, Saint Elizabeth, the princess “who died at the age of twenty-four after giving up all her possessions and distributing everything to the poor”. . She is a “shining jewel of the Gospel that she gave herself to the end, in the hospital that she had built, caring for the sick.” Francis thanked the Hungarian authorities “for promoting charitable and educational works inspired by these values.” However, he pointed out that a fruitful collaboration must “well safeguard the appropriate distinctions” between State and Church, “maintaining the Gospel as a point of reference, in order to adhere to the free and liberating choices of Jesus and not lend ourselves to a kind of collateralism with the logic of power”. He invoked “a healthy secularism, which does not fall into generalized secularism, which shows itself to be allergic to all sacred aspects to later immolate itself on the altars of profit.”
Recognizing one’s favorite children of the Father and loving each one as a brother, are “the two clues” that the Pope pointed out to the Hungarian people. He took up the words of Saint Stephen, the first king of this land, who recommended his son “to welcome strangers with kindness and hold them in honor, so that they prefer to stay with you rather than elsewhere.” “The theme of welcome -Francis concluded- raises many debates in our days and is certainly complex. However, for those who are Christians, the basic attitude cannot be different from that transmitted by Saint Stephen, who learned it from Jesus. We must approach the problem without excuses or delays, thinking that Christ is present in so many desperate brothers and sisters, who are fleeing conflict, poverty and climate change.”
From Budapest, he ended up once again inviting all of Europe to address the migration issue, working on “safe and legal paths, on shared mechanisms in the face of a time challenge that cannot be stopped by rejection, but rather must be embraced to prepare a future that, if it is not together, it will not exist”.
