"Such is the will of Christ who prayed for His followers to be one," Cardinal Erdő said in a mass celebrated during the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest.Continue reading
“We consider it our calling to act as a bridge between the East and the West and different cultural and religious worlds and nations,” Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, said at the closing mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest on Sunday.
The closing mass was celebrated by Pope Francis in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square.
In his greeting to the pope, Erdő said the mass was a symbol representing “our unity around Christ under the guidance of the successor of Saint Peter”.
The representation of various Christian denominations at the congress “signals our shared desire for the unity of all who are baptised”, Erdő said, greeting Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
He said the presence of the representatives of other religions, particularly members of the Jewish community, demonstrated the calling of the church “to be Christ’s ambassador to the nations”.
He noted that this year marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of a document of peace and friendship between the members of the Hungarian and Slovak bishops’ conferences.
Featured photo by Zoltán Máthé/MTI