Budapest will host the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress (ICE2020) next year, with a week-long programme focussing on solidarity and friendship between nations, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, said on Monday after presenting the programme in Vatican City.

The congress will not be a political event but it will certainly carry a social message, he told MTI.

The congress will open with a celebratory mass in Budapest‘s Puskás Ferenc Stadium on September 13, to be followed by a series of programmes on the Hungexpo fairgrounds until September 18, the cardinal said.

An exhibition will open in Budapest’s Műcsarnok art gallery to present the charitable activities of the church, he said.

The closing mass will be celebrated by a papal legate on Heroes’ Square on September 20, Erdő added.

“Pope Francis has also been invited to the congress and he has not refused the invitation,” he said.

Source: MTI