APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS to HUNGARY (28 – 30 APRIL 2023) REGINA CAELI

I thank Cardinal Erdő for his kind words, and I greet Her Excellency the
President, the Prime Minister and the Authorities present. As I prepare to return
to Rome, I wish to express my gratitude to them, to my brother bishops, the
priests and consecrated men and women, and to all the beloved Hungarian
people for their warm welcome and the affection I have experienced in these
days. I am also grateful to those who travelled a great distance to be here and
to those who worked so hard, and so well, for this visit. To all of you I say,
köszönöm, Isten fizesse! [Thank you, may God reward you!]. I think especially
of the sick and the elderly, of those who were unable to be present with us, of
those who are lonely and those who have lost faith in God and hope in life. I am
close to all of you; I pray for you and I give you my blessing.
My greeting goes likewise to the members of the Diplomatic Corps and our
brothers and sisters of other Christian confessions. I thank you for your presence
and for the fact that in this country the different confessions and religions
interact and are supportive of one another. Cardinal Erdő said that here you have
been living “on the eastern border of Western Christianity for a thousand years.”
It is a beautiful thing when borders do not represent boundaries that separate,
but points of contact, and when believers in Christ emphasize first the charity
that unites us, rather than the historical, cultural and religious differences that
divide us. We are united by the Gospel, and it is by returning there, to the
source, that our ecumenical journey will continue, in accordance with the will of
Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who desires us to be united in one flock.
We now turn to Our Lady. To her, Magna Domina Hungarorum, whom you invoke
as Queen and Patroness, I entrust all Hungarians. From this great city and from
this noble country, I desire to entrust to her heart the faith and the future of the
entire continent of Europe, which has been on my mind in these days and, in
particular, the cause of peace. Blessed Virgin, watch over the peoples who suffer
so greatly. In a special way, watch over the neighbouring, beleaguered Ukrainian
people and the Russian people, both consecrated to you. You, who are the
Queen of Peace, instil in the hearts of peoples and their leaders the desire to
build peace and to give the younger generations a future of hope, not war, a
future full of cradles not tombs, a world of brothers and sisters, not walls and
barricades. […]