What did Pope Francis and Viktor Orbán talk about?

As you know, the Pope arrived in Hungary in the morning of the 12th of September to deliver the closing mass of the 52nd Inernational Eucharistic Congress held in Budapest for the second time since 1938. But what did the head of the Catholic Church say during his stay and what did the supreme pontiff and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán talk about.

The Vatican said the “cordial” meeting lasted about 40 minutes. Pope Francis and the Hungarian officials discussed the “role of the Church in the country, the commitment to the protection of the environment, and the protection and promotion of the family”, it said. Pope Francis presented Áder with a mosaic depicting the “Papal Blessing in St. Peter’s Square”, the Vatican said.

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At the meeting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Orbán presented Francis a copy of the letter Hungarian King Béla IV wrote to Pope Innocent IV in the 13th century, Bertalan Havasi said.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked Pope Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish at his meeting with the pontiff in Budapest on Sunday, the PM’s press chief said.

Later during the closing mass of the Congress Pope Francis highlighted the courage of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s first Christian King, and Elizabeth of Hungary as examples of meeting Jesus Christ. Francis called on the faithful gathered for the mass in Heroes’ Square to

“allow the meeting with Jesus to transform us in the eucharist the way it transformed the great and courageous saints whom you respect like Saint Stephen and Saint Elizabeth”.

Pope Francis started the closing mass of the 52nd Intl Eucharistic Congress
Photo: MTI/Zoltán Máthé

“Like them, we should not settle for little. We should not settle for a faith that consists only of rituals and repetitions.” Francis said that although the Eucharistic Congress marked the end of a journey, it should, more importantly, mark “the beginning of another”.

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He said the debates and fights around the Cross were a clash of God’s logic and the world’s logic. God’s logic, he said, was “humble love”. God’s path is “free of all compulsions” and seeks what is good for others, the pontiff said. Meanwhile, the world’s logic, he said, sought appreciation, prerogatives, favourable judgement and success.

Pope Francis said the difference was not about who was or wasn’t religious, but between the “true God” and “the god of oneself”.