In the afternoon, he had his first big public event in Hungary, a youth rally at the city’s sports stadium where he was given a singularly Hungarian gift: A Rubik’s Cube, the colorful puzzle invented by Hungarian architect Erno Rubik. Soltani later said of their 18 months staying in container shelters that they felt like “fish in an aquarium.” When a European court decision closed the transit zones, Soltani opted to remain in Hungary, where he still lives.Īt the end of the event, a band of Hungarian Roma musicians serenaded the pontiff, drawing a standing ovation and cheers from the crowd and a thumbs-up from Francis.įrancis started his Saturday visiting with children who have visual and physical disabilities. Among them was artist and filmmaker Abouzar Soltani, a refugee from Iran who spent 553 days in one of Hungary’s transit zones with his 10-year-old son, Armin, after Hungarian authorities rejected their asylum claims in 2018. There were conspicuously few people of color in the pews of St. Upon arriving in Budapest on Friday, he denounced the “adolescent belligerence” that had brought war back to European soil and demanded the EU recover its values of peaceful unity to end it. He said that he gave the pope an Italian translation of a six-volume opus on the life of Christ.įrancis’ visit to Hungary, his second in as many years, is bringing him as close as he’s come to the front lines of the war. ![]() ![]() In a statement, Hilarion’s office said that he briefed Francis on the social and educational activities of the Russian church in Hungary and its relations with the Catholic Church here. They had planned a second one in June, but the meeting has been indefinitely postponed over Kirill’s support for the war. Francis and Kirill had a 2016 encounter in Cuba that marked the first between a pope and the head of the Russian church. The Russian church’s strong support for the Kremlin’s war has rankled the Vatican and prevented a second papal meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Vatican said the 20-minute meeting at the Holy See’s embassy in Budapest was “cordial.” And then he met with the Russian Orthodox Church’s representative in Hungary, Metropolitan Hilarion, who developed close relations with the Vatican during his years as the Russian church’s foreign minister. Immediately after greeting and encouraging the refugees, Francis visited the Greek Catholic church next door, which has been providing aid to refugees. There it’s my life - it was my life,” she said. She said that she hopes to return to Kyiv one day, but for now she and her children are adapting. “Here it’s safe,” Misiats said of her new life. 24, 2022 - the day Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.įirst she went to the Netherlands, but high costs compelled her to move to Hungary, where she said she has found an apartment and given birth to her third daughter, Mila, who was in the pews Saturday with her mother and sister. One who has chosen to stay was Olesia Misiats, a nurse who worked in a Kyiv COVID-19 hospital when she fled with her mother and two daughters on Feb. ![]() Around 35,000 of the refugees remain in Hungary and have registered for temporary protection there, according to the U.N. While Orbán’s government has consistently rejected asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Africa, around 2.5 million Ukrainians fleeing war in their country found open doors. “The love that Jesus gives us and commands us to practice can help to uproot the evils of indifference and selfishness from society, from our cities and the places where we live - indifference is a plague - and to rekindle hope for a new, more just and fraternal world, where all can feel at home,” he said. Elizabeth’s church, named for a princess who renounced her wealth to care for the poor, Francis recalled that the Gospel instructs Christians to show love and compassion to all, especially those experiencing poverty and “even those who are not believers.” He called for a culture of charity in a country where the prime minister has justified firm anti-immigration policies with fears that migration threatens Europe’s Christian culture. Starting the day, he thanked Hungarians for welcoming Ukrainian refugees and urged them to help anyone in need. By NICOLE WINFIELD and JUSTIN SPIKE (Associated Press)īUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) - Pope Francis plunged into both sides of Russia’s war with Ukraine on Saturday, greeting some of the 2.5 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled across the border to Hungary during a public prayer service and then meeting privately with an envoy of the Russian Orthodox Church that has strongly supported the war.įrancis maintained the Vatican’s tradition of diplomatic neutrality during his second day in Budapest, where he’s on a weekend visit to minister to Hungary’s Catholic faithful.
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