To Our Lady patroness of Hungary he entrusts "the future" of the European continent and "in a special way the cause of peace" for a future "of cradles, not graves." In his homily he dwelt on the figure of the Good Shepherd, the "outgoing" mission urging to become like Jesus an "open door." Yesterday meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, youth and 600 poor and refugees. Pontiff's warning: charity requires "the courage to touch."

 

Budapest (AsiaNews) - Borders should not be "frontiers that separate, but areas of contact," believers should prioritize "the charity that unites and not the historical, cultural and religious differences that divide," and young people a "future of hope, not war."

This is what Pope Francis stressed before the recitation of the Regina Caeli at the end of the mass concelebrated this morning before 50,000 faithful gathered in Kossuth Lajos Square in Budapest on the final day of his apostolic journey to Hungary.

In a world marked by violence, the Gospel "brings us together," and it is by returning to the sources "that the journey among Christians will continue according to the will of Jesus," the "Good Shepherd who wants us united in one flock." He then turned to Our Lady - the Magna Domina Hungarorum, queen and patroness to whom he paid homage with a silent prayer at the end of the Mass - to whom he entrusted the Hungarians and placed in her heart "the faith and the future of the entire European Continent [...] and in a special way the cause of peace."

"Holy Virgin, look to the peoples who suffer most. Look especially," stresses Pope Francis, who also addresses a "special remembrance" to the sick and elderly and to those who have lost faith in God and hope in life, "at the neighboring tormented Ukrainian people and the Russian people, consecrated to you. You are the Queen of Peace, instill in the hearts of men and the leaders of nations the desire to build peace, to give the younger generations a future of hope, not of war; a future full of cradles, not of tombs; a world of brothers, not of walls."

Earlier, in his homily at Mass on the Fourth Sunday of Easter, he dwelt on the figure of the Good Shepherd and the meaning of the "outgoing" mission, becoming like Jesus an "open door."

"It is sad and it hurts," he said, "to see closed doors: the closed doors of our selfishness toward those who walk beside us every day; the closed doors of our individualism in a society that risks atrophying in loneliness; the closed doors of our indifference toward those in suffering and poverty; the closed doors toward those who are foreign, different, migrant, poor. And even the closed doors of our ecclesial communities: closed among ourselves, closed toward the world, closed toward those who 'are not in order,' closed toward those who yearn for God's forgiveness."

Hence, the appeal to those present - in addition to faithful, priests and church leaders, diplomats and institutions also a representation of the Jewish community - especially to bishops and pastors: "Please: let us open the doors!"

In his reflection, the pope called for being "open and inclusive to one another," attacking those who keep their doors closed.

Addressing the country's ruling class and its people, he asks them to "help Hungary grow in fraternity," recalling once again the epochal challenge of migration that cannot be met with walls. Hence the return to the figure of the Good Shepherd who "gives his life for his sheep" by performing two actions: "First he calls them, then he leads them out."

In the beginning there is the "call of God," as the apostle Peter points out in the Second Reading, "You were wandering like sheep, but now you have been led back to the shepherd and keeper of your souls." The task of Christians, he reminds us, is "to make his fold inclusive and never exclusionary [...] without getting caught up in worrying about defending each one's own space, but opening ourselves to love." 

After calling his sheep, the shepherd "leads them out" of the fold by sending them into the world so that "with courage and without fear" they may become heralds of the Gospel. A movement we can grasp from the image of the door, which is Jesus, through whom we enter and leave.

"Jesus is the door," he continues, "that has opened wide to let us enter into the communion of the Father and experience his mercy," but "after leading us back into God's embrace [...] he pushes us out into the world. He impels us," the pope says, "to go out to meet our brothers and sisters," no one excluded. Courage is needed "to reach out to every periphery that needs the light of the Gospel" with a reference to the apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium,

Yesterday was also a busy day in Budapest for the pontiff, who met among Metropolitan Hilarion, more than 600 poor and refugees gathered inside and outside St. Elizabeth's Church and a representation of Hungarian boys and girls.

The Pope's attention to the issue of migration, was reflected in the meeting with the poor and refugees in which he recalled that faith should not be "prey to a kind of spiritual selfishness" but should be uncomfortable in going out to meet those in need. In this regard, Francis extolled the figure of the saint, to whom the Hungarian people are devoted, who followed the example of the Poor Man of Assisi by divesting herself of riches in order to dedicate her life to the least.

During the meeting with the poor and refugees, the pontiff listened to the testimonies of three families one of them of Ukrainian origin who fled about a year ago when bombings caused severe damage to their city. And touching on the theme of charity, he emphasized that it is not simply material and social assistance, but is concerned with the person through the love of Jesus that helps to regain beauty and dignity.

"To do charity," he explains, "it takes the courage to touch; you cannot throw alms from a distance without touching."

In a world where walls and divisions are increasing, the pope says, "This is the witness that is required of us: compassion toward all, especially those marked by poverty, sickness and pain. We need a Church that speaks fluently the language of charity, a universal idiom that everyone hears and understands, even the most distant, even those who do not believe."

True faith is that "which inconveniences, which risks, which brings out to meet the poor and makes us capable of speaking the language of charity with our lives. As St. Paul says, we can speak many languages, possess wisdom and riches, but if we do not have charity we have nothing and are nothing." 

"The love that Jesus gives us and commands us to live then contributes to eradicating from society, from the cities and places in which we live, the evils of indifference, it is a plague indifference, the evil of selfishness, and it rekindles," he concluded, addressing the poor and migrants, "the hope of a new humanity, more just and fraternal, where everyone can feel at home.  

Also yesterday, Pope Francis met with 12,000 young people waiting for him at the Papp László Budapest Sportarena, the Hungarian capital's main indoor sports hall, representing the country's 45,000 students from Catholic high schools and universities. After listening to some of the stories, the pope invited them to look to Christ to "fearlessly challenge the adventure of life." He does not want "schoolchildren repeating a lesson" but "young people who are free and on the way."

Hence the invitation to go against the grain and find a time of silence each day to stop and pray. Silence, he explains, is not to be used to "immerse oneself in one's melancholy" or to be glued to one's cell phone, because "life is real, not virtual, it does not happen on a screen" but "in the world."

Most recently, the face-to-face meeting with Metropolitan Hilarion, for 13 years head of the Department of External Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, and since last year in Hungary. The meeting comes amid a picture complicated by the Russian war against Ukraine, which was supported by Patriarch Kirill and has marked a deep rift even within the Orthodox world. Francis and Hilarion met inside the nunciature and the dialogue was marked by "cordial" tones, an embrace between the two and the pope kissing his pectoral cross.