Pope Attends Eucharistic Congress

From September 5-12, the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress was held in Budapest, Hungary. Annual Eucharistic Congresses have been a recurring event in the life of the Holy Church during the 20th and 21st centuries. Aimed at fostering a deeper and wider devotion to the Most Blessed Sacrament among the Catholic faithful, these Congresses have been the recipients of a handful of official papal visits, with this year’s Hungarian Congress being the most recent.

With speeches from such important figures as the Primate of Hungary, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, and even the Holy Father himself, this Congress has also been the recipient of much support from Hungary’s Catholicism-friendly government headed by prime minister Viktor Orban. Orban, along with the President of Hungary Janos Ader (who himself gave a public speech at the Congress), privately met with Pope Francis along with a few Vatican officials. During the meeting, which was reportedly conducted in “a cordial atmosphere,” a Vatican release states that, “among the various topics discussed were the role of the Church in the country, the commitment to the protection of the environment, the protection and promotion of the family.”

Prime Minister Orban reportedly gifted to Pope Francis a copy of the letter sent in 1250 AD to Pope Innocent IV by King Bela IV of Hungary, in which the king asked for assistance in countering the Tartar invasion of Europe. Orban also wrote that during his audience with the pope, the Prime Minister “asked Pope Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish.”

Earlier during the Congress, Cardinal Hollerich, the Jesuit Archbishop of Luxembourg, also gave an address in which he said, “faith in Europe has become a very small flame, which in some regions of our continent risks slipping away.” 

He continued, saying, “The faith was carried by cultural structures, the faith entered the soul as if in symbiosis with the world around us. A faith no longer carried by this Christian world becomes at risk of wavering.” 

He ended with the hope that the Catholic Church in Europe would recover its “missionary dynamic,” wherein “faith is nourished by its object, which is at the same time the subject, the living God who is also the source of that faith.” 

Cardinal Hollerich, made a cardinal by Pope Francis, has also been chosen as the relator general of the upcoming Synod on Synodality — he is charged with drawing up the documents which will serve as the basis of discussion throughout the coming Synod, giving him an incredibly significant role within the life of the Church.

Cardinal Archbishop Peter Erdo, the Primate of Hungary, opened the Eucharistic Congress on September 5 through the celebration of the Holy Mass. In his address to the congregation, he spoke of the importance of the youth and of the formation and faith of the priests. To the many children in attendance, he spoke, “Remember the Church needs you, your youth, your enthusiasms, and you need Jesus. Everything grows old quickly, only God is always young, and the Church is the true youth of the world because She preserves the sacrament of the Body of Christ. May the Eucharist be the center of your days. Of every day!”

The Primate then turned his attention to the priests, who he addressed, “sentinels of the morning, living presence of the Mother and Teacher Church.” Erdo described priests as “heralds of God’s love, prophets of the Spirit in a marketplace of material values, heirs of a living Tradition and heralds of the future in a lost world.” He ended these sentiments saying, “The Church does not assure you of tranquility, but repeats to you with Christ, ‘Do not be afraid.’”

The Eucharistic Congress, which the Primate of Hungary described as “a great sign of hope,” came to an end upon the departure of the Holy Father out of the nation of Hungary. The bishops seem to hope that the Congress has given the Church, and her European members especially, a renewed hope for the propagation of the faith across the nations of Europe and the entire world.

Staff photo by Olivia Colombo