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Pope Francis will visit Csíksomlyó in Szeklerland
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The Vatican’s public relations office has confirmed that the Holy See will visit Romania between the 31st of May and 2nd of June. It is highly possible that the Pope will give a mass at Csiksomlyó, similar to the Csíksomlyó Pilgrimage.
Székelyhon reports that Pope Francis has accepted the joint invitation of Klaus Iohannis, Romanian President of the Romanian Government and the Romanian Catholic Church. The Holy Father will visit Bucharest, Iaşi, Blaj (Balázsfalva) and Csíksomlyó, the Virgin Mary Shrine. A detailed schedule of the visit will soon be published.
Even though Pope John Paul II was to Romania twenty years ago, this will be the first time that a Holy See actually visits the Hungarian Catholic community in Transylvania. The Hungarian Catholics have constantly been inviting the Holy Fathers to come to Transylvania, as the majority of the Catholic believers in Romania live there.
This historical event, however, did not happen smoothly. Ferenc Potyó, a prelate, the general vicar of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Alba Iulia, told Székelyhon that the Catholics were lobbying endlessly to make this happen. The authorities were often hindering their work since where the Pope goes, the world goes as well, so
“a lot of people appearing waving red-white-green flags is not too appealing to the Romanian government”.
But the Catholics prevailed, and their wish was granted. Potyó commented that “this is a decision of great importance; the Papal visit affirms the faith of and reassures those who were oppressed by Communism and provides religious and ethnic minorities courage”.