PHOTO GALLERY: Pope Francis arrived in Hungary! – UPDATED

Pope Francis’s ITA flight from Rome was shceduled to touch down at Budapest’s international airport at 10 AM.

Pope Francis will have a busy schedule today

According to Telex, Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, was already at the airport to welcome the Catholic leader on Hungarian soil again. Pope Francis visited Hungary once before, at the 2021 International Eucharistic Congress. Today, he will meet President Katalin Novák and PM Viktor Orbán in Budapest. Later today, he will deliver a speech in the St. Stephen’s Basilica. Based on the Hungarian news outlets, the pope will be protected even by snipers.

Deputy PM Zsolt Semjén and FM Péter Szijjártó welcoming the pope at Budapest Airport:

The pope’s flight has been in Hungary’s airspace for 30 minutes, and almost 17,000 people followed its course on FlightRadar. He was on board of an Airbus A320neo of ITA Airways, the Italian national airline. It took off today at 8.21 AM from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. John Paul II was the first pope to carry out a country visit to Hungary. He arrived shortly after the regime change in 1991. The Polish pope visited Pécs, Máriapócs, Debrecen and Budapest. In 1996, he returned but went only to Pannonhalma to partake in the millennium celebration of the abbey.

Here are some photos of the pope’s arrival:

Photo: Tamás Kovács/MTI

Public media MTVA to broadcast the papal visit to Hungary live

Hungarian public service media will follow the events of Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest live, the press and marketing office of the Media Service Support and Asset Management Fund (MTVA) said on Thursday. Public media will broadcast all public programmes connected with the pope’s visit to Hungary at the weekend, with live broadcasts from Sándor Palace, St. György Square, the Carmelite Monastery housing the Prime Minister’s Office, St. Stephen’s Basilica, the László Batthyány Roman Catholic Children’s home for the visually impaired, St. Elizabeth Church on Rózsák Square, the Protection of the Mother of God Greek Catholic Church, László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, Kossuth Lajos Square and Pázmány Péter Catholic University.

The pontiff’s arrival and farewell from Liszt Ferenc International Airport will also be covered live. Broadcasts on Duna TV start at 9.40am on Friday with the arrival of Pope Francis at Liszt Ferenc International Airport, followed by his ceremonial reception on the square in front of Sandor Palace and his meeting with the President of the Republic the Prime Minister. From 12.20pm, the pontiff will meet state leaders, representatives of social life and the diplomatic corps in the Carmelite Monastery. From 5pm, the pope will meet bishops, priests, deacons, monks and pastoral staff at St. Stephen’s Basilica.

Busy schedule

At 8.30 AM on Saturday, Duna will follow live events at the László Batthyány Children’s Home for the for the visually impaired before the pope attends St. Elizabeth’s Church on Rozsak Square, where he will meet the poor, refugees, and representatives of the Greek Catholic community. From 3.55 PM, the head of the Catholic Church will appear before 11,000 young people in the Papp Laszlo Sports Arena, where the official song of the papal visit, Camino, will be performed. On Sunday, the final day of the pontiff’s visit, from 9.30 AM Duna will broadcast mass celebrated by the pope from Kossuth Lajos Square. From 3.50 PM Pope Francis will meet representatives of university life at Pázmány Péter Catholic University.

At 5.30 PM, viewers can watch the pope’s farewell at the airport. As well as Duna TV, M1 and Kossuth Rádió will cover the events in detail. All members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) will have free access to the broadcast, the MTVA statement said.