The much-anticipated papal visit to Hungary has come to an end. The events and remarks of the three days the pontiff spent in Hungary have been covered quite extensively in the international press, with one of his statements even eliciting a response from the Kyiv government.
While talking to reporters on the papal plane on his way back to Vatican City, he proclaimed that
the Vatican is involved in a ‘peace mission’ to end the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
‘I am ready to do everything that is necessary. There is a mission in progress, but it is not public yet. Once it becomes public, I will reveal it…In my opinion, peace can only be achieved by opening channels. You can never achieve peach through isolation.’
His Holiness also revealed that, while in Budapest, he engaged in negotiations about said peace mission with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Bishop Hilarion, the metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in Budapest.
News of the Pope’s ambitions reached Kyiv soon. An anonymous person from President Zelenskyy’s wartime administration told CNN that they too were unaware of such a papal mission, and they do not approve of any such efforts. The unnamed official then added: ‘President Zelenskyy has not consented to any such discussions on Ukraine’s behalf.’
The Polish news agency PAP has also quoted the Pope claiming he had spoken to Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church once since the war broke out, in a 40-minute video call on Zoom. The Russian high priest is a controversial religious leader: he is an open proponent of his nation’s war effort, even having blessed the Russian troops invading Ukraine. Despite that,
the Pope has expressed his willingness to meet with Patriarch Kirill again.
His Holiness has played a role in talks about POW exchanges between the Russian and Ukranian sides before.
By Sunday night, he safely returned to Vatican City, as reported by the Vatican News Facebook page.
International Reaction to the Pope’s Visit to Hungary
Apart from the aforementioned discussion about the behind-the-scenes peace mission, international news outlets have devoted most of their column inches to the Pope asking Hungarians to be more open to foreigners in his open-air mass celebrated in Kossuth Square in the Hungarian capital. The BBC and POLITICO have both run pieces about this subject.
There has been tension between Vatican City and Budapest on the issue of migration before, with the Pope being a critic of Hungary’s strict policy of border control. Thankfully, relations have improved. This was the second time His Holiness met with PM Orbán in two years. In September 2021, he visited Budapest briefly for the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress (IEC).
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