From Pope Francis’ visit to Hungary, I would like to highlight a few surprises that touched so many people.
We, the Hungarian CJ sisters, had the opportunity to meet Pope Francis in St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest on the day of his arrival, 28 April 2023. Pope Francis had mentioned to the preparation team several times before his visit, that he was thinking of the Hungarian Mary Ward Sisters who lived in Buenos Aires with great love and gratitude, so we were seated in a row of priests in the Basilica.
It was at the end of our row, where an elderly priest who had lost both his legs to an illness sat in a wheelchair. When Pope Francis entered the basilica, he noticed the elderly priest in the wheelchair and stopped to greet and encourage him.
After the Mass, in the crowd outside the basilica, Pope Francis, deviating from protocol, made his way down the stairs to greet those who could not fit inside the church.
The official photographer witnessed at close how, while waiting for the Holy Father to arrive, one of the residents of the Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann Home for the blind, a boy with a red face and hands and very peeling skin, was taken away from the Pope’s planned route by a staff member, who said he had bad hands and could not be shaken by the Holy Father. The photographer was touched very much when she saw that at the end of the visit Pope Francis went directly to this boy to shake hands.
On the way to this Home for blind and multiply disabled children, a small group in white and yellow T-shirts sat on the side of the side road where the papamobile had to pass. As the car was about to arrive, Pope Francis stopped the driver, got out and greeted the assembled people who had no room at this facility.
He also met poor people and refugees from the war in Ukraine, where a group of Roma sang with heart and soul the songs they had prepared for the occasion. For me, this was the most moving moment of all, even though I had only seen and heard it through the screen.
During the three days that Pope Francis spent in Budapest, he departed from protocol many times in order to get close to the people, to bless and encourage them. The people were surprised to see how much Pope Francis trusted the crowds around him, as no one was checked during his drive.
The Catholic journalists reported that they were very surprised to see the positive attitude of the entire Hungarian media towards the Hungarian Church during those two weeks – something that was unprecedented before or since. Even the nonbelievers did not regurgitate the transport inconveniences of the visit, but interpreted it as welcoming Christ’s Vicar on earth with the utmost dignity.
Judit Knáb CJ
