Exactly one year to the day after her visit to the Vatican last year, President Katalin Novák met Pope Francis at 9 a.m. on Friday, August 25, who received her for a private interview in his office. Since Katalin Novák speaks Spanish, the interrogation took place without an interpreter this year as well, in the presence of the two negotiating parties.
After the private hearing, the President of the Republic of Hungary will meet with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary of Vatican Intergovernmental Relations.
After a private interview between Pope Francis and Katalin Novák, the President of the Republic introduced her entourage to the Holy Father and presented the gifts. The members of the Hungarian delegation include Eduárd Habsburg-Lotharingiai, Hungarian ambassador to the Holy See, and Father Norbert Németh, rector of the Pontifical Hungarian Institute.
Father Norbert Németh answered a question from Vatican News and said:
"President Katalin Novák presented the Holy Father with an icon made in Transcarpathia, which depicts the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus, and which was made by members of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia with the aim that the President - immediately after her visit to Ukraine - would present the To the Holy Father.
In other words, this icon was created by those Hungarians who are suffering in Ukraine because of the war and who are members of the Transcarpathian Hungarian community there.
The First Lady presented the Holy Father with the album commemorating the papal visit in April 2023 with colorful photos.
In a second copy of this album, the lady president asked the Holy Father for lines of recommendation, which he gladly did, and which the guest, Katalin Novák, will eventually take home to Hungary. In addition, Katalin Novák also gave Pope Francis small objects of grace from the pilgrimage sites of Hungary, together with a ceramic dove of peace, which "rhymes" with the gift that the Holy Father gave to the First Lady, and this is the Holy Father's message for this year's World Day of Peace, which is to be presented in 2022. wrote on December 8.
This was accompanied by a bronze statue entitled "Messenger of Peace". So they actually handed each other the symbols of peace."
After the private hearing, the President of the Republic of Hungary held a meeting with Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, during which they discussed the current issues between the two parties, with particular regard to the war raging in Ukraine.
Featured image: Katalin Novák's Facebook page
