Cardinal Erdő: Pope’s visit to Hungary tells us ‘Christ is our future’

Hungary as a ‘bridge’ country

In presenting the trip, Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See press office, pointed out how Hungary is a “bridge” country. Erdő noted that “being a bridge has always been our vocation. The Danube that runs through the city of Budapest was the border of the Roman Empire, the border of the Empire of Charlemagne; it was the northernmost province of the Ottoman Empire. Hungary has understood itself as part of the Western world for a thousand years and entered it through the Holy See with our king, St. Stephen. For this reason, our relations with the pontificate and the pope also have a symbolic value for the nation, not just for Catholics.”

Indeed, the religious composition in Hungary is varied, although, in the Catholic Church, the Latin rite makes up the majority. However, 5% of the country’s Catholics are of the Byzantine rite, 15% to…