The President of Hungary attended Holy Mass at the renovated Esztergom Basilica

Cardinal-Primate Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom and Budapest, celebrated Holy Mass to mark the largest renovation in the history of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption and St. Adalbert. The cathedral was blessed by Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. 

Pietro Parolin conveyed the message of Pope Francis, who assured the Hungarian faithful of his "spiritual closeness and prayers" and sent his blessings upon them. The Cardinal State Secretary stressed that the Holy Father remembers with great affection his apostolic visit to Hungary at the end of April 2023. In his homily, Cardinal Parolin warned that we cannot build God’s Temple, that is, the Church, while we ourselves are "in splendid isolation, in the desert of our personal agendas". 

No Christian is a lonely church, and "we are called to welcome the Lord, and in his name, children, women, the elderly, the unemployed, refugees, the abused, victims of war, especially the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the conflicts in Palestine and Israel”-added Pietro Parolin. 

The Holy Mass was concelebrated by members of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference.
The ceremony was attended by Dr. Tamás Sulyok, the President of Hungary, and First Lady Zsuzsanna Nagy. Zsolt Semjén, Deputy Prime Minister, Miklós Soltész, State Secretary for Church and Ethnic Relations of the Prime Minister's Office and Ádám Hernádi, Mayor of Esztergom also attended the event. 

Following the Holy Mass, the Head of State held talks with Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom and Budapest.