President of Hungary Tamás Sulyok paid a visit to Pope Francis

Pope Francis quoted one of St. Stephen’s admonitions, according to which: be gentle, so you never fight against the truth –Sulyok Tamás recalled, and stressed that this is an important message of St. Stephen, and it is no coincidence that Pope Francis himself drew attention to it.

The President of Hungary emphasized: for him, this particular exhortation is very meaningful and it touches him, so he asked the Pope to bestow it upon him, so he can use it as his motto.

Pope Francis was pleased to bestow it upon me - Tamás Sulyok recalled. The President explained that he had presented the Pope with an "enchantingly beautiful" ornamental copy of the Illuminated Chronicle, a Matyo-style tablecloth as well as painted eggs in a decorative box, and shared with him the legend of the history of Matyo embroidery, among other things discussed. He added that as an additional gift, he took the book "King Stephen's Admonitions to Prince Emmerich" to the Vatican, as Pope Francis had mentioned during his visit to Hungary last year that his library did not include this publication.

During his visit to the Vatican, on Thursday Tamás Sulyok also attended the audience where Pope Francis received the Hungarians who had arrived for the Hungarian National Pilgrimage, following which the Head of State was present at the mass concluding the pilgrimage at St. Peter’s Basilica. Fifteen hundred people from Hungary, the Hungarian-inhabited areas in Hungary’s neighbours and from the Hungarian communities in the West attended the Hungarian National Pilgrimage, which was initiated by the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference as a gesture of gratitude for Pope Francis’ Apostolic Visit to Budapest between April 28 and 30 last year. 

The President of Hungary will conduct talks with Fra’ John Dunlap, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, on Friday.


(MTI)