Pope Francis left for his three-day apostolic visit to Hungary on Friday, the Vatican announced on its Twitter page.
Pope Francis receives a warm welcome in Budapest on Friday, as he begins his Apostolic Journey to Hungary.#PopeInHungary https://t.co/He4NpdY2M2 pic.twitter.com/5kg1SMtqdJ
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 28, 2023
Before leaving, the Pope briefly met with a group of 15 homeless people living around St. Peter’s Cathedral at St. Martha’s House, according to the announcement.
The Archbishop is traveling to Budapest on an ITA Airways (former Alitalia) A320 neo.
A former employee of the airline told the Vatican News news portal that the Pope’s departure is always guaranteed because ITA Airways always puts two planes with the same equipment on standby in case one of the planes cannot take off or is only delayed due to an unexpected technical error.
Pope Francis arrived in Budapest
Pope Francis has arrived for a three-day apostolic visit to Hungary, his plane landed at Budapest Ferenc Liszt Airport a few minutes before 10:00 a.m. on Friday. After landing, a Vatican flag and a Hungarian flag were displayed in the plane’s window from the cockpit.
On the plane, the head of the church was greeted by the apostolic nuncio Michael Wallace Banach, and then Pope Francis left the plane by elevator.
On behalf of the state, the Pope was received by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, on behalf of the Church Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, András Veres, President of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and Archbishop-Metropolitan Fülöp Kocsis.
Also present were Miklós Soltész, the Prime Minister’s State Secretary for Church and Ethnic Relations, and Bence Rétvári, the Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior.
The members of the papal delegation include, among others, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See, and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, head of the Vatican’s intergovernmental relations.
A hundred children were waiting for Pope Francis at the airport, two of them, dressed in Hungarian folk costumes, handed him bread and salt; the Holy Father also ate from the offered bread.
After his arrival, the head of the Catholic Church first took part in a twenty-minute face-to-face meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén.
From the airport, Pope Francis goes to Buda Castle, Szent György tér, where he will participate in the reception ceremony held in his honor.
Afterward, the head of the church will meet with President Katalin Novák and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the Sándor Palace, and then in the Carmelite monastery with representatives of state authorities, social life and the diplomatic corps.
On Friday afternoon, Pope Francis will meet with bishops, priests, deacons, monks, student priests and pastoral staff in the St. Stephen’s Basilica.
On Saturday morning, Pope Francis will pay a private visit to the Blessed Batthyány-Strattmann László Otthon, which cares for blind children. After that, he meets the poor and refugees in the Árpád-házi St. Elizabeth’s Church on Rózsák Square in Budapest and then goes to the Church of the Protection of the Mother of God, also in the square, to the Greek Catholic community.
On Saturday afternoon, Papp László will meet young people at the Budapest Sports Arena, and in the evening he will host the Hungarian Jesuit community at his accommodation, the Apostolic Nunciature.
After the papal mass in Kossuth Square on Sunday morning, as the last program of his visit to Hungary, the head of the church will meet with representatives of university and cultural life at the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics of Pázmány Péter Catholic University.
After the official farewell, the plane of the head of the church and the Vatican delegation will return from Budapest to Rome late Sunday afternoon.
Pope Francis’ apostolic journey on April 28-30, 2023 and all public events related to his visit are reported on by almost all public media channels. A total of six live broadcasts – two each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday – will be seen and heard on the Duna TV channel and Kossuth radio.
MTI
Main picture: In the photo published by the Prime Minister’s Office, Pope Francis arrives at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport on April 28, 2023. The head of the church came to Hungary for a three-day apostolic visit. Behind Pope Francis is Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén. MTI/Prime Ministership/Gergely Botár
