Budapest International Eucharistic Congress to open with 1,000-strong choir, First Communions

May 19, 2021 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

Heroes’ Square (Hősök tere), Budapest, Hungary. / Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia / CC BY-SA 4.0.

CNA Staff, May 19, 2021 / 06:40 am (CNA).

The International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary, will open this September with a 1,000-strong choir and a “vast” number of First Communions.

The organizers of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress made the announcement as they released new details of the packed program for the Sept. 5-12 event.

At a May 13 press conference in the Hungarian capital, the hosts emphasized the significance of Pope Francis’ decision to celebrate the event’s closing Mass in the city’s Heroes’ Square.

The congress was originally scheduled to take place in 2020 but was postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The visit of the Holy Father sends a strong message as it was 21 years ago the last time when the supreme pontiff, at that time St. Pope John Paul II, attended an International Eucharistic Congress — in Rome,” they said in a press statement.

“The Holy See usually is represented by the apostolic nuncio or legate at such global events, and the pope generally addresses the pilgrims in video messages.”

They noted that the congress will begin at 3 p.m. local time on Sunday, Sept. 5, in Heroes’ Square with an opening ceremony including a performance by a choir of 1,000 singers.

The opening Mass will then be celebrated by the papal legate at 4 p.m. in the square, which honors Hungarian national leaders. The Mass will be attended by students from Hungary’s Catholic schools.

Organizers said that “vast numbers are going to partake of the First Communion” at the Mass.

On Monday, Sept. 6, five days of events will begin at the main congress venue, the Hungexpo Budapest Congress and Exhibition Center.

The event’s program lists cardinals from five continents as leaders of the congress’ morning prayers, catechesis, testimonies, and workshops.

Scheduled speakers include Burmese Cardinal Charles Maung Bo, retired Vatican Cardinal Robert Sarah, Iraqi Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako, Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Nigerian Cardinal John Onaiyekan, and Canadian Cardinal Gérald Lacroix.

Organizers said that the speaker who will travel the greatest distance to the event is Archbishop José Palma of Cebu, who will fly from the Philippines.

Hungary has a population of 9.8 million, 62% of whom are Catholic. The country, which borders Austria, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine, and Slovakia, last hosted the Eucharistic Congress in 1938.

There will also be a significant number of other events around the congress. A theological symposium will take place on Sept. 2-4 in Esztergom, a city in northern Hungary that is the seat of the Primate of Hungary.

On Sept. 4, a concert celebrating Judeo-Christian dialogue will be held at Budapest’s Dohány Street Synagogue. A host of evening concerts will take place throughout the congress.

Organizers highlighted the premiere of a Mass setting in the Romani language which will take place during a Mass at St. Stephen’s Basilica. The Mass setting was created by young composer Patrik Gergő Oláh. The traditionally nomadic Romani people are Hungary’s largest minority.

An exhibition on the theme of anti-Christian persecution will also open in cooperation with Hungary Helps, the country’s humanitarian assistance program for the persecuted Christians, and the Hungarian National Museum.

The weekday events at the Hungexpo will build towards the weekend of Sept. 11-12, the final two days of the congress.

On the Saturday, Cardinal Péter Erdő of Esztergom-Budapest will celebrate Mass in Kossuth Square, home to the spectacular Hungarian Parliament Building, followed by a candlelight procession to Heroes’ Square.

The cardinal told CNA in February that he was convinced that the congress would be “a great sign of hope for the Catholics all around the world” following the pandemic.

Pope Francis is scheduled to be the principal celebrant of the closing Mass in Heroes’ Square at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 12.

“In addition to the 120-member orchestra of the Hungarian Opera, the Choir of the Opera and a Grand Choir of 2,080 singers arriving from all corners of Hungary will be among the performers,” the organizers said.

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Vatican confirms Pope Francis will visit Slovakia in September

July 4, 2021 Catholic News Agency 0
Pope Francis gives his Sunday Angelus address overlooking St. Peter’s Square June 27, 2021. / Vatican Media/CNA.

Vatican City, Jul 4, 2021 / 06:05 am (CNA).

The Vatican confirmed Sunday that Pope Francis will travel to Hungary and Slovakia in September.

The pope will visit Budapest on Sept. 12 for the concluding Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. He will then travel to the Slovakian cities of Bratislava, Prešov, Košice and Šaštin from Sept. 12 to 15.

The trip was confirmed July 4 by the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, who said details about the pope’s program in Slovakia will be published at a later date.

Pope Francis himself announced his trip to Slovakia after his noon Angelus address: “I am pleased to announce that from 12 to 15 September next, God willing, I will go to Slovakia to make a pastoral visit,” he said from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Pilgrims from Slovakia present in the square responded to the announcement with cheers, and the pope noted their presence. “The Slovaks are happy there!” he said.

“I sincerely thank all those who are preparing this journey and I pray for them,” Francis said. “Let’s all pray for this trip and for the people who are working to organize it.”

In his Angelus address July 4, Pope Francis reflected on “the comfort of habit and the dictatorship of prejudice,” which prevents us from really knowing Jesus and the people around us.

His exegesis centered on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark. In the passage, Jesus preaches in the synagogue in Nazareth, but his fellow villagers react by asking themselves: “What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?”

“We could say that they know Jesus, but they do not recognize him,” the pope said. They “have known him for 30 years and think they know everything.”

“In reality, they never realized who Jesus really is,” he said.

Francis noted that the same thing can happen in our own lives with the people around us: we see someone in our neighborhood, meet them occasionally, but “it is an ordinary, superficial knowledge that does not recognize the uniqueness of that person.”

“It is a risk that we all run: we think we know a lot about a person, and the worst is that we label them and shut them up in our prejudices,” he said.

“And here we get to the very heart of the problem,” Pope Francis continued, “when we make the comfort of habit and the dictatorship of prejudice prevail, it is difficult to open up to novelty and be surprised.”

He encouraged Catholics to foster amazement in their faith life.

“Without amazement, faith becomes a tired litany that slowly dies out and becomes a habit,” he said. “What is it, amazement? Amazement is precisely when the encounter with God happens.”

God became incarnate and he draws near to us in the normal activities of our lives, Francis said.

“And then, it happens to us as to the fellow villagers of Jesus, we risk that, when he passes by, we do not recognize him.”

“Now, in prayer, let us ask the Madonna, who welcomed the mystery of God in her daily life in Nazareth, for eyes and hearts free of prejudices and to have eyes open to be amazed: ‘Lord, that we might meet you.’”

“We meet him in the normal: eyes open to God’s surprises, at his humble and hidden presence in daily life,” he concluded.


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