Pope Francis, on his three-day visit to Hungary, headed a big outdoor Mass where he urged people to not close the door on migrants and those who are “foreign or unlike us,” contrary to the anti-immigrant policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Over 50,000 people gathered in and around the square behind Budapest’s iconic neo-gothic parliament building to see the ope on the last day of his visit.
“I really like the holy mass and the speech he gave, and I felt that he meant many parts specifically for us in his speech,” one of the mass attendees said.
Francis said that if Hungarians wanted to follow Jesus, they will have to shun “the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference towards the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close towards those who are foreign or unlike us, towards migrants or the poor”.
He said that migrants escaping poverty should also be welcomed because they can culturally enrich the host countries and also boost Europe’s declining populations.
‘Vatican involved in secret peace mission to end conflict between Russia and Ukraine’: Pope
On Sunday, Pope Francis said that Vatican is involved in a peace mission aiming to end the conflict, tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
“There is a mission in course now but it is not yet public. When it is public, I will reveal it,” the pope told reporters during a flight home after his visit to Hungary.
“I think that peace is always made by opening channels. You can never achieve peace through closure. … This is not easy.”
He also spoke about the situation in Ukraine with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and with Metropolitan (bishop) Hilarion, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.
“In these meetings, we did not just talk about Little Red Riding Hood. We spoke of all these things. Everyone is interested in the road to peace,” he said.
Pope had previously said that he wanted to visit Kyiv and Moscow on a peace mission.
On Thursday, Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met the pope at the Vatican and said that he had discussed a “peace formula” put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
“The Holy See is willing to do this (help repatriate the children) because it is the right thing,” Francis said on the plane. “All human gestures help but gestures of cruelty don’t help. We have to do all that is humanly possible”.
(With inputs from agencies)
