BUDAPEST, Hungary — Praising the piety and charity of Hungarian Christians and their commitment to supporting traditional family life, Pope Francis said Christ also calls them to open their hearts -- and perhaps their borders -- to others in need.
When it comes to the church or to society, isolationism is not Christian, the pope said in a variety of ways during his visit to Budapest, Hungary, April 28-30.
Because of the 86-year-old pope's mobility issues, the trip was confined to the capital and the official schedule was lighter than usual. But, as is normal for the pope, he used part of his long midday breaks and early evenings for private meetings, including with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary.
Flying back to Rome April 30, the pope confirmed that he and Metropolitan Hilarion had spoken about Russia's war on Ukraine, and he said the Vatican has some special "mission" underway, but he declined to provide details.
The pope also spoke about the war with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who, despite being a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has condemned the war. But within the European Union, he has consistently voted against sanctioning Russia and against sending weapons to Ukraine.
Orbán has claimed his position makes him the only European leader siding with Pope Francis, although the pope has insisted Ukraine has a right to defend itself.
In his first speech in Hungary -- to government and civic leaders and diplomats serving in Budapest -- the pope encouraged the leaders to foster greater European unity rather than going their own way.
The "passionate quest of a politics of community and the strengthening of multilateral relations seems a wistful memory from a distant past," he said April 28 in his speech at the former Carmelite monastery that now houses Orbán's office.
"More and more," the pope said, "enthusiasm for building a peaceful and stable community of nations seems to be cooling, as zones of influence are marked out, differences accentuated, nationalism is on the rise and ever harsher judgments and language are used in confronting others."
Ukraine is one of Hungary's eastern neighbors and Hungarians have assisted some 2.5 million Ukrainians who have crossed the border since Russia's war on Ukraine began in February 2022. About 35,000 of the Ukrainian refugees have remained in Hungary.
Pope Francis repeatedly praised Hungarians for opening their country and their hearts to the Ukrainians, but in several speeches and at his Mass April 30 in Budapest's Kossuth Lajos Square, he urged them to be open to everyone in need.
"How sad and painful it is to see closed doors," he said in his homily. He cited "the closed doors of our selfishness with regard to others; the closed doors of our individualism amid a society of growing isolation; the closed doors of our indifference toward the underprivileged and those who suffer; the doors we close toward those who are foreign or unlike us, toward migrants or the poor."
Orbán and President Katalin Novák, who have promoted the migration restrictions, were among the estimated 50,000 people attending the Mass in the square in front of the Hungarian Parliament building.
The pope also preached openness April 28 during a meeting with Hungary's bishops, priests, religious, seminarians and catechists.
He called Hungarian Catholics to embrace "prophetic welcome" or "prophetic receptivity," which, he said, "is about learning how to recognize the signs of God in the world around us, including places and situations that, while not explicitly Christian, challenge us and call for a response."
Christians grow in "prophetic receptivity," he said, by "bringing the Lord's consolation to situations of pain and poverty in our world, being close to persecuted Christians, to migrants seeking hospitality, to people of other ethnic groups and to anyone in need."
Pope Francis met with more than 10,000 Hungarian young people in a sports arena April 29 and listened to four of them share how they have overcome obstacles and grown in their faith.
One of them, Tódor Levcsenkó, a 17-year-old student in Miskolc, Hungary, and the son of an Eastern Catholic priest from the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Western Ukraine, told his peers that their sense of mission and purpose can be "numbed by the fact that we live in safety and peace," but only a few miles away, across the border, "war and suffering are the order of the day."
"May we have the courage to defend our faith and take up our call to be peacemakers," he said.
Pope Francis echoed his call, telling the young people, "This is the real challenge: to take control of our lives in order to help our world live in peace. Each one of us should ask the uncomfortable question: What am I doing for others, for the church, for society? Do I think only about myself?"
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Pope on plane talks about Ukraine, returning artifacts to Canada
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Pope on plane talks about Ukraine, returning artifacts to Canada
ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM HUNGARY — The Holy See has a project underway related to peace between Russia and Ukraine, but Pope Francis told reporters he could not talk about it yet.
"There is a mission underway that is not public yet; when it is public, I will tell you about it," Pope Francis told reporters traveling with him from Budapest, Hungary, back to Rome April 30.
He also said discussions already were underway with Indigenous communities in Canada for the repatriation of cultural artifacts held in the Vatican Museums.
Pope Francis had been asked whether, after giving three fragments of the Parthenon marbles to the Orthodox Church of Greece in March, he was planning to do the same with artifacts that have been traced to the Inuit, Métis and First Nations communities of Canada.
"This is the Seventh Commandment: if you have stolen something, you must give it back," he said.
"The restitution of Indigenous articles is underway with Canada -- at least we had agreed to do it," the pope said.
What can be returned to its rightful owners should be, the pope said.
"Sometimes you can't -- (when) there isn't a political or real, concrete possibility to do it -- but to the extent that you can return something, you should. This is good for everyone, so no one gets used to putting their hands in someone else's pocket."
On his two-hour flight back to Rome from Budapest, Pope Francis spent about 20 minutes answering five questions from reporters traveling with him. Other topics included his health, his travel plans and his discussions in Budapest with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and with Russia Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary.
Asked if he had spoken about peace in Ukraine or sought contacts with Moscow during his meetings with Orbán, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and with Metropolitan Hilarion, the pope responded that "peace is made by opening channels. You cannot create peace with closure. I invite everyone to open doors, channels of friendship."
As for his conversation with Metropolitan Hilarion, the pope said, "well, we weren't talking about Little Red Riding Hood."
"I am willing to do anything that must be done" to promote peace, he said.
Asked about his health, Pope Francis said that when he got sick in late March, he did not lose consciousness, as some media reported, but he was in such pain that he skipped lunch and went to take a nap.
"I did not lose consciousness but, yes, I had a high fever, and at 3 in the afternoon the doctor had me immediately taken to the hospital," he said. "It was a strong case of pneumonia in the lower part of the lungs."
He spent three nights March 29-April 1 in Rome's Gemelli hospital. The Vatican press office had said his doctors diagnosed bronchitis.
The day before the trip to Hungary, Pope Francis said, he had seen his doctor, "who came to look at things a bit," and they spoke about his travel plans, which include Lisbon, Portugal, in early August for World Youth Day.
"You all can see for yourselves that things are not the same as they were two years ago," but "with the cane, I'm doing better. For now, the trip (to Lisbon) is not canceled," the pope said. "Then there is the trip to Marseille (France), a trip to Mongolia and there's another one that I don't remember."
"You see how the program keeps me moving," he said.
During the inflight news conference, Pope Francis refused to criticize Orbán directly on migration even though the prime minister has enacted a tough "no migrants" policy and built fences along Hungary's borders with Serbia and Croatia.
Asked about Hungary's policy, Pope Francis insisted -- as he has before -- that the European Union must act. Currently he said, only five countries -- Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and Malta -- are bearing a disproportionate burden in taking in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing poverty and civil strife.
After Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met Pope Francis at the Vatican April 27, the prime minister told reporters he had asked for the Vatican's help in returning to Ukraine children taken by force to Russia.
The Ukrainian government's "Children of War" website claimed, as of April 30, that 19,393 children had been forcibly removed from Ukraine and taken to Russia.
Asked on the plane if he thought the Vatican could help, Pope Francis responded, "I think so because the Holy See has been a go-between in some of the prisoner exchanges" between Russia and Ukraine.
"The Holy See is willing to try because it's the right thing and we have to help," the pope said. He explained it's not about helping with the war effort, but with a humanitarian cause.
"All humanitarian gestures help," he said. "Gestures of cruelty do not."
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Jesus is the best life coach, pope tells Hungarian youths
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Jesus is the best life coach, pope tells Hungarian youths
BUDAPEST, Hungary — The life of faith is not a game, but it does require commitment and training, Pope Francis told thousands of Hungarian young people gathered in a sports arena in Budapest.
"How do we win in life?" the pope asked the young people gathered in the capital's László Papp Budapest Sports Arena April 29. Success has two basic steps, he said, "First, aim high, then train."
Everyone has a talent, the pope said, but using it just to earn money or have fun will not bring happiness.
"Put your talents to good use," he said. "Don't be afraid."
Listening to the deepest desires of one's heart may reveal a longing to have a large family or to serve others and the church through priesthood or religious life. Even if society seems to treat those vocations as unreasonable, he said, they are not unattainable desires.
The first step in training for a full and happy life, he told more than 10,000 young people, is "dialogue with Jesus, who is the best of coaches. He listens to you, encourages you, believes in you and is able to bring out the best in you."
"He constantly invites you to be a team player, never alone but with others: in the church, in the community, sharing your experiences with others" -- in person, the pope said. Spending all of one's time on the phone, interacting only with virtual friends, "is not good or healthy."
A bit of silence each day also is needed, he said.
"Nowadays, we are bombarded with the message that we have to be fast, efficient and practically perfect, like machines," he said. "Then we often find that we run out of gas and are at a loss for what to do. We have to learn how to stop and fill our tanks, to recharge our batteries."
Prayer, reading the Bible, reading a book, enjoying nature -- those are all things that are better with silence, he said.
Silence, the pope said, "is the door to prayer, and prayer is the door to love."
Two young women and two young men briefly shared stories of their faith journeys with Pope Francis and with their peers.
Bertalan Krabót, 15, told Pope Francis that when he was younger, he did not see the point of Mass or confession and thought faith had little relevance to his life. "The saints are all up in heaven; they've won, they've finished their match, and I haven't."
But as he grew and became involved in a group for altar servers and another for Catholic scouts, he said he started to see that he could be a normal teenager and still serve God and his community.
"Jesus died on the cross not just for geniuses and Olympic medalists," he told his peers. Jesus "infinitely loves every person, including me," and has a plan for every life.
In fact, the pope noted, "on every page, the Gospel tells us that the Lord does not do great things with exceptional people, but with ordinary people."
Tódor Levcsenkó, a 17-year-old student in Miskolc, Hungary, and the son of an Eastern Catholic priest from the Eparchy of Mukachevo in Western Ukraine, told his peers that their sense of mission and purpose can be "numbed by the fact that we live in safety and peace," but only a few miles away, across the border, "war and suffering are the order of the day."
"May we have the courage to defend our faith and take up our call to be peacemakers," he said.
Pope Francis echoed his call, telling the young people, "This is the real challenge: to take control of our lives in order to help our world live in peace. Each one of us should ask the uncomfortable question: What am I doing for others, for the church, for society? Do I think only about myself?"
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Borders should be points of contact, not separation, pope says in Hungary
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Borders should be points of contact, not separation, pope says in Hungary
BUDAPEST, Hungary — To be Christian is to be open and welcoming to others, Pope Francis said as he celebrated Mass outside Hungary's Parliament building.
"We, like Jesus, must become open doors. How sad and painful it is to see closed doors," especially the "closed doors of our selfishness," isolationism and indifference to the poor and the sick, he said at the Mass April 30 in Budapest's Kossuth Lajos Square.
In a country that has assisted hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fleeing war but otherwise maintains a "no migrants" policy, the pope decried "the doors we close toward those who are foreign or unlike us, toward migrants or the poor."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President Katalin Novák, who have promoted the migration restrictions, were among the estimated 50,000 people attending the Mass.
Akos Ugron, wearing his Malteser International jacket over his Scout leader's uniform, said the Mass was exactly what he had hoped for from Pope Francis' visit -- "that we would be all together. Many have come from the far parts of the country."
Like his fellow Hungarian volunteers with the Knights of Malta's humanitarian organization, he has assisted Ukrainians crossing the border. He said, though, he agrees with the government that migrants must enter the country only legally.
Pope Francis returned to the topic of borders and welcome at the end of Mass before leading the recitation of the "Regina Coeli" prayer.
Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest had described Hungary as being "the eastern border of Western Christianity for a thousand years."
Pope Francis commented, "It is a beautiful thing when borders do not represent boundaries that separate, but points of contact, and when believers in Christ emphasize first the charity that unites us, rather than the historical, cultural and religious differences that divide us."
Before leading the Marian prayer, he told people in the square he wanted to entrust to Mary "the faith and the future of the entire continent of Europe, which has been on my mind in these days and, in particular, the cause of peace."
"Blessed Virgin," he prayed, "watch over the people who suffer so greatly. In a special way, watch over the neighboring, beleaguered Ukrainian people and the Russian people, both consecrated to you."
"Instill in the hearts of peoples and their leaders the desire to build peace and to give the younger generations a future of hope, not war," the pope prayed, "a future full of cradles not tombs, a world of brothers and sisters, not walls and barricades."
In his homily at the Mass, Pope Francis focused on the Gospel reading, John 10:1-10, where Jesus describes himself as a shepherd who calls his sheep by name and as the gate for the sheep.
Jesus brings people into the fold, the community, the church, the pope said, and then he sends them out.
"We too were first gathered into God's family to become his people," he said, "then we too were sent out into the world so that, courageously and fearlessly, we might become heralds of the good news, witnesses of the love that has given us new birth."
Jesus is an open door, the pope said, welcoming people into the community and sending them out again in his name.
Pope Francis said he is saddened to see "closed doors also within our ecclesial communities: doors closed to other people, closed to the world, closed to those who are 'irregular,' closed to those who long for God's forgiveness."
"Please," he told Hungarian Catholics, "let us open those doors! Let us try to be -- in our words, deeds and daily activities -- like Jesus, an open door: a door that is never shut in anyone's face, a door that enables everyone to enter and experience the beauty of the Lord's love and forgiveness."
Saying he was speaking particularly to himself and to his fellow bishops and priests, Pope Francis said they must be good shepherds like Jesus, who "does not take advantage of his role; he does not lord it over the flock entrusted to his care; he does not occupy spaces that belong to his lay brothers and sisters; he does not exercise inflexible authority."
The call extends to "those with political and social responsibilities," he said. "Be open and inclusive, then, and in this way, help Hungary to grow in fraternity, which is the path of peace."
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Recognize God at work in the world, pope tells Hungarian clergy, religious
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Recognize God at work in the world, pope tells Hungarian clergy, religious
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Fear, anger and rigidity will do nothing to reverse the growth of secularism and a decline in the number of Catholics attending Mass, Pope Francis said; the only effective response is to give a living example of faith."The church to which we must aspire," he said, is "a church capable of mutual listening, dialogue and care for the most vulnerable, a church welcoming to all and courageous in bringing the prophetic message of the Gospel to everyone."
Pope Francis met with 1,100 bishops, priests, seminarians, religious and catechists in the Basilica of St. Stephen in Budapest April 28, the first day of his three-day trip to the Hungarian capital. Another 4,000 churchworkers were seated in the square in front of the basilica, watching on video screens.
Dominican Sister Krisztina Hernády, who works with six other sisters in southeastern Hungary, told Pope Francis that decades of hardship and of communism left most people in the region with no idea that there is "a God who loves us personally and cares for us."
"We are confronted with people's physical and, especially, spiritual poverty every day," she said. "My sisters and I are working to be instruments of God through which we can show those who live there the joy of the Gospel."
Father József Brenner, the 88-year-old brother of martyred Blessed János Brenner, told Pope Francis that, "blessed by two parents who lived a holy life," he and both his brothers became priests.
His most important prayer intentions, he said, are for "good Christian families and good priestly vocations."
Playing on the image of the Catholic family as a "domestic church," Father Sándor Kondás, a married Eastern Catholic priest, told Pope Francis he and his wife were intent on building a cathedral through their marriage and family life. Now, after years of marriage and with five children, including one with Down syndrome, they may not have built a cathedral, but "we at least have constructed an 'emergency chapel' where anyone can enter at any time."
And that kind of openness is one of the prescriptions Pope Francis had for the Catholic Church in Hungary, and elsewhere. The Vatican's English translation of his text used the phrase "prophetic receptivity," while his original Italian also could be translated as "prophetic welcome."
"Prophetic receptivity is about learning how to recognize the signs of God in the world around us, including places and situations that, while not explicitly Christian, challenge us and call for a response," the pope said.
Even in Hungary, "with its solid tradition of faith," he said, "we witness the spread of secularism and its effects, which often threaten the integrity and beauty of the family, expose young people to lifestyles marked by materialism and hedonism and lead to polarization regarding new issues and challenges."
A truly Christian response, he said, rejects both the temptation of "defeatism" and that of "a comfortable conformism" that basically says everything is fine when it is not.
"We may be tempted to respond with harshness, rejection and a combative attitude," he said. But the Christian way is to accept them as challenges that call for finding "new approaches, methods and means of communicating" the truth of the Gospel.
Christians grow in "prophetic receptivity," he said, by "bringing the Lord's consolation to situations of pain and poverty in our world, being close to persecuted Christians, to migrants seeking hospitality, to people of other ethnic groups and to anyone in need."
One thing that absolutely must be rejected, he said, is allowing the challenges to divide the church.
"If we grow distant from one another or divided, if we become hardened in our ways of thinking and our different groups, then we will not bear fruit," the pope said. "It is sad when we become divided, because, instead of playing as a team, we start playing the game of the enemy. The devil is the one who divides. He's an artist at that; it's his specialty."
"Our first pastoral priority is to bear witness to communion, for God is communion and he is present wherever there is fraternal charity," the pope insisted.
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Pope says church must be 'fluent' in 'language of charity'
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Pope says church must be 'fluent' in 'language of charity'
BUDAPEST, Hungary — The vestibule of the Church of St. Elizabeth of Hungary was decorated with children's drawings for Pope Francis -- many of them depicting him with a Ukrainian flag, praying for peace.
There also were several that showed the pope wearing his zucchetto and a soccer jersey with the colors of Argentina's flag, but that was beside the point April 29 as Pope Francis met in the Budapest church with Roma, refugees, the poor and the many Catholics from all over Hungary who assist them.
Before arriving at the church, he visited a Catholic institute for children with limited vision, mobility issues and other special needs.
The meeting at the Blessed László Batthyány-Strattmann Institute mostly involved music and prayer -- no speeches were planned. The director of the institute, though, recited the familiar "Prayer of St. Francis," which includes the series of petitions: "Where there is hatred let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith. ..."
Thanking him for choosing that prayer, the pope described it as "pure Gospel" because it looks at reality, sees what is missing and asks God to give the believer the strength to make a difference.
While the pope was at the institute, some 600 people were waiting for him inside the Church of St. Elizabeth, named for the 13th-century Hungarian princess who used all her money to build a hospital where she herself cared for the sick and poor.
Among those waiting was Olesia Misiats, a Ukrainian nurse and mother of three, who fled Kyiv 14 months ago when Russia started bombing her country. She went to Holland first, but said it was too expensive, so now she is in Budapest.
Her oldest daughter is now in Poland with her husband, who is Polish. Mila was born six months ago in Budapest, and "my daughter Anna, who is 6, is studying in kindergarten and already speaks Hungarian," Misiats said. "We feel safe here. Many people help us."
Oleg Yakovlev told Pope Francis about the help he and his wife Lyudmila and their five children -- Daniel, Maria, Alexandra, Iliya and Elizaveta -- received when they fled the war in Ukraine. And he thanked the pope for his constant prayers for peace in Ukraine and "for standing up for the victims of the war."
The variety of needs people have and the way Catholics in Hungary are meeting them is an example of a living faith, Pope Francis said.
"We need a church that is fluent in the language of charity, that universal language which everyone can hear and understand, even those farthest from us, even those who are not believers," the pope said.
Csaba Kovesi and his 15-year-old daughter Napsugár were talking about a similar idea before the pope arrived. The 50-year-old Roma man has carried a crucifix around Hungary and to other parts of Europe for 20 years, praying for peace between the Roma communities and their neighbors, he said.
"It's just love that it gives me," said Napsugár when asked about her dad's project. "We try to give love to everyone. When you believe in God, you have found the way to be happy."
"It is not enough to provide bread to fill stomachs; we need to fill people's hearts," the pope said in his speech. "Charity is much more than material and social assistance. It has to do with the whole person; it strives to put people back on their feet with the love of Jesus: a love that helps them to recover their beauty and their dignity."
"Engaging in charity means having the courage to look into the other person's eyes -- it's not charity when you look the other way. To engage in charity, you must have the courage to touch the person," the pope said, departing from his prepared text.
Building a real relationship with the poor, he added, "makes you realize how much you are in need, in need of the gaze and the touch of the Lord."
The theme of the morning turned back to peace when the pope went across the street to the Eastern Catholic's Protection of the Mother of God Church. About 500 people gathered there chanted an "ektenia" or litany of peace for the pope.
And, returning to the nunciature where he is staying, Pope Francis spent about 20 minutes meeting with Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest and Hungary, formerly head of external relations for the Moscow Patriarchate.
The Vatican press office said the meeting was "cordial" but provided no other details.
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Pope arrives in Hungary preaching cooperation, welcome — not isolation
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Pope arrives in Hungary preaching cooperation, welcome — not isolation
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Paying homage to Hungary's history, culture and location in the heart of Europe, Pope Francis pushed against the notion that the country needed to insulate itself to protect its identity.
As expected, in his first speech in Hungary -- to government and civic leaders and diplomats serving in Budapest -- the pope acknowledged efforts to protect traditional values, but insisted those values include supporting European unity, welcoming migrants and working to end the war in neighboring Ukraine.
The "passionate quest of a politics of community and the strengthening of multilateral relations seems a wistful memory from a distant past," he said April 28 in his speech at the former Carmelite monastery that now houses the office of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
"More and more," the pope said, "enthusiasm for building a peaceful and stable community of nations seems to be cooling, as zones of influence are marked out, differences accentuated, nationalism is on the rise and ever harsher judgments and language are used in confronting others."
The 86-year-old pope, who was released from the hospital April 1 after what the Vatican said was a bout of bronchitis and who frequently has been using a wheelchair or walker because of knee problems, simply used a cane when he walked the length of the ITA Airways plane to greet journalists during the two-hour flight from Rome.
He joked about his health -- "weeds never die" -- and, in response to a Polish journalist who thanked him for defending St. John Paul II, the pope described as "foolishness" rumors that the Polish pope was somehow involved in the disappearance in 1983 of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old Vatican resident.
Pope Francis continued using the cane instead of a wheelchair as he walked down the red carpet at the Budapest airport and around the presidential Sándor Palace where he met privately for 25 minutes with Hungarian President Katalin Novák and then for 20 minutes with Orbán.
Novák, welcoming Pope Francis to the meeting with government and civic representatives, told him Hungarians expected to receive encouragement from him in their quest to help make Europe "more peaceful, more democratic and stronger."
"Over the past 30 years," she told him, Hungarian Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants have joined forces in "the ecumenism of the preservation of Christian values," specifically regarding marriage, family life and abortion.
In his speech, Pope Francis told those gathered that around the globe politics is showing signs of an "adolescent belligerence" that seems more about stirring up emotions than resolving problems.
"Peace will never come as the result of the pursuit of individual strategic interests, but only from policies capable of looking to the bigger picture, to the development of everyone: policies that are attentive to individuals, to the poor and to the future, and not merely to power, profit and present prospects," Pope Francis said.
That attention, he said, must allow room for the different countries of the European Union and the different communities within each nation to assert their own identities but not at the cost of denigrating or denying the rights of others.
Mentioning some areas of common ground with Orbán's government, Pope Francis described as "ideological colonization" efforts to promote acceptance across Europe of "so-called gender theory," which sees gender as a social construct rather than a biological fact, and "reductive concepts of freedom, for example by vaunting as progress a senseless 'right to abortion,' which is always a tragic defeat."
"How much better it would be to build a Europe centered on the human person and on its peoples," he said, pointing positively to Hungary's pro-family policies that encourage married couples to have children.
But Pope Francis also used the words of St. Stephen, the 11th-century king of Hungary, to draw attention to the theme of migration, a major area of difference with Orbán who, since 2015, has promoted a "no migrants" policy.
The sainted king, the pope said, told his people: "I urge you to show favor not only to relations and kin, or to the powerful and wealthy, or to your neighbors and fellow countrymen, but also to foreigners and all who come to you."
Migration, Pope Francis said, is a "heated" topic in today's world, but "for those who are Christians, our basic attitude cannot differ from that which St. Stephen recommended," a lesson learned from Jesus, "who identified himself with the stranger needing to be welcomed" in Matthew 25.
Pope Francis said it was "urgent" that Europe as a whole devise "safe and legal ways" for those fleeing violence, poverty and climate change to enter its borders.
Migration cannot be stemmed by a general attitude of rejecting the possibility, he said, "but must be embraced in order to prepare for a future that, unless it is shared, will not exist."
— Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Fear, anger and rigidity will do nothing to reverse the growth of secularism and a decline in the number of Catholics attending Mass, Pope Francis said; the only effective response is to give a living example of faith.