Papal Visit: These Are the Thrones Pope Francis Will Sit On

Two master carpenters are working 12 hours a day to ensure that Pope Francis will be seated in chairs that meet the Vatican’s requests during his visit to Hungary from April 28-30. Five thrones are being made for the Pope and 16 more for bishops and deacons. At the request of the Catholic head of church, the thrones being prepared for his visit will be simple and light-colored, public television M1 news channel reported on Sunday.

According to the report, the thrones the Pope will use will have higher backrests and will be engraved with the Vatican coat of arms. The chairs will be made of aspen tree, ash wood, and oak.

Carpenter Tamás Ádám, told M1 news that they also had to take into account the weight of the chairs, as they had to be mobile and transportable. He added that at the moment the chair weighs fifty kilograms, but if they had used solid wood, it would have been several times that.

Pope Francis will visit Budapest from April 28-30, and preparations are already well underway. Recently, Hungarian national railway company MÁV announced that the MÁV-Volán Group and GYSEV will provide free travel from anywhere in the country to the capital for pilgrims arriving for the events at the capital. No registration ticket is required for the free journey, and the transport operators concerned will keep passengers informed about further technical details.

Pope Francis will say mass on Sunday morning, April 30, in Kossuth Square in front of the Parliament, where hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend.

Preparations are already underway in the square, where construction has begun on the main stage where the altar will be placed. The gates will open at 6 a.m. and the Pope is scheduled to take a tour of the square in the Pope mobile at around 9 a.m., with the Holy Mass starting at 10 a.m.

It is already known that Ferenc Sapszon, the Kossuth and Liszt Prize-winning conductor and Artist of the Nation, has been asked to conduct the music for the papal mass. He also performed this role at the International Eucharistic Congress in 2021, when Pope Francis visited Hungary. Sunday’s Mass will be sung by a choir of 312 selected singers, including renowned Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály’s Hungarian Mass (Magyar mise).

Featured photo via Facebook/Zoltán Kovács