Pope on the banks of the Danube in last Mass in Hungary

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Tens of hundreds of Hungarians flocked to Budapest’s fundamental sq. Sunday for Pope Francis’ last Mass, gathering on the banks of the Danube because the pontiff wrapped up a weekend go to to the center of Europe with pleas for a peaceable finish to Russia’s struggle subsequent door.

The Mass on Kossuth Lajos Square, with the Hungarian parliament and Budapest’s famed Chain Bridge as a backdrop, supplied the visible spotlight of Francis’ three-day go to that has been dominated by the Vatican’s concern for the plight of neighboring Ukraine.

Citing native organizers, the Vatican mentioned some 50,000 folks had been taking part on the Mass, greater than 30,000 of them within the sq. on a brilliantly sunny spring morning. Among them had been President Katalin Novak and Hungary’s right-wing populist prime minister, Viktor Orban, whose lukewarm help for Ukraine has rankled fellow European Union members.

After the Mass, Francis had a last occasion in Budapest earlier than returning to Rome: a speech on European tradition on the Pazmany Peter Catholic University.

The 86-year-old Francis has tried to forge a diplomatic balancing act in his pleas to finish the struggle, expressing solidarity with Ukraine whereas retaining the door open to dialogue with Moscow. On Saturday, he prayed with Ukrainian refugees after which met with an envoy of Russian Patriarch Kirill, who has firmly supported Moscow’s invasion and justified it as a metaphysical battle towards the liberal West.

Francis kissed the cross of Metropolitan Hilarion in an indication of respect for the Russian Orthodox Church throughout what the Vatican mentioned was a “cordial” 20-minute assembly on the Vatican’s embassy in Budapest. Hilarion, who developed good relations with the Vatican as Kirill’s longtime international minister, mentioned he briefed Francis on his work now because the Moscow Patriarchate’s consultant in Budapest.

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Francis’ go to to Hungary, his second in as a few years, introduced him as shut as he’s been to the Ukrainian entrance but in addition to the center of Europe, the place Orban’s avowedly right-wing Christian authorities has forged itself as a bulwark towards a secularizing Western world.

Francis, although, has used the go to to name for the continent to search out once more its spirit of unity and objective, referencing Budapest’s bridges throughout the Danube as symbols of unity and connection.

The web site for his last Mass couldn’t have been extra applicable for that message: The sprawling sq. is known as for considered one of Hungary’s most well-known statesmen who served as its first prime minister after the 1848-1849 revolution towards Habsburg rule. It is separated from the left financial institution of the Danube river solely by Hungary’s iconic neo-Gothic parliament, the nation’s largest constructing and residential of its National Assembly. Nearby is the Chain Bridge, considered one of a number of bridges spanning the river and linking the Pest and Buda sides of the town. ___