Pope Francis will attend the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress on September 12, according to Cardinal Péter Erdő and Bishop András Veres.
In the communiqué of the Press Service of the Hungarian Catholic Episcopal Conference, Péter Erdő and András Veres stated they have happily learned that the Holy Father has announced his decision to travel to Budapest for the closing Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. “We have trust that this will be a great encouragement and spiritual strengthening for all of us and also for the future participants of the Eucharistic Congress,” the statement reads.
The Vatican emphasized that this will be not an official state visit, as the Pope will only attend the closing Mass of the conference. Initially, the Conference was to be held in 2020 but was postponed because of the coronavirus. The Vatican later approved Péter Erdő’s proposal according to which the Conference, a global Catholic event, will be held between September 5 and 12 in Budapest. The pope’s visit, since his three days in Csíksomlyó/Șumuleu Ciuc (and his celebration there), was a question for many. For a while, it was only known that the pope was invited to the Congress according to both state and Church protocol. The pope has just returned to Rome from his visit to Iraq, which was not without some danger: No pope had ever visited Iraq before, so Pope Francis’ visit was of historic importance.
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