Pope Francis honors head of Hungarian charity
The pope awarded Dániel Solymári, director of international relations at the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, the Knight Cross of the Order of Saint Sylvestre.
The pope awarded Dániel Solymári, director of international relations at the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, the Knight Cross of the Order of Saint Sylvestre.
The Pope will visit Hungary between April 28 and 30 and is so far the only country for Pope Francis to visit twice.
“I was happy to hear that Pope Francis accepted my invitation and will visit Hungary,” President Katalin Novák said.
The pope could visit several towns and cities in Hungary that no pope has seen before.
The president said she had handed over an official invitation to the pope and asked him to visit Hungary next year.
The prime minister said the Vatican and the Hungarian state both agree on the importance of family.
The logic of Hungarian history dictates that Hungary should hold the Vatican and the Holy Father, the center of Christianity, in especially high regard, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told Hungarian state media on Thursday.
This will be the first official visit by PM Orbán to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican.
Pope Francis is sending a statue of St Joseph to be auctioned at a charity auction organized by Hungarian public media.
Pope Francis highlighted his meeting with the Hungarian state leaders as a major event of his recent visit to Budapest, and spoke in high terms about the Hungarian faithful.
The pope noted he had met President János Áder for the third time on Sunday. “I promised the president to look into another visit to Hungary next year or some other year,” he said.
While Pope Francis’ visit to Budapest yesterday received ample attention from mainstream media outlets, the sensationalists, once again, couldn’t resist a negative take.
The two communities must fight anti-Semitism together to prevent the “waves of hate” from damaging their relationship, he said.