My father, who had been suffering from a serious lung disease for years, followed the broadcast of the week of the congress, and not a day went by that he did not tell the bystanders that he would soon be able to participate in a Mass with Pope Francis in Budapest. However, God called him to another meeting...
Last year, when the collection of material for the special volume entitled Christ is our future - Pope Francis's apostolic visit to Hungary took place, we asked the site managers of the papal visit to describe their experiences.
Viktória Csapó was responsible for the last location of the 2023 apostolic visit. On the afternoon of April 30, Pope Francis met with representatives of university and cultural life at the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. Viki Csapó was not unfamiliar with the task and the meeting with the Holy Father, she was also among the organizers during the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress (NEC). In September 2021, one day before the visit of Pope Francis, Viktória lost her father, Ferenc Török. On the occasion of the Holy Father's visit, he turned to Viktória Csapó with an unexpected gesture, who wrote down his memories of the meetings for the first time and sent them to the volume. Only a part of his memory was included in the special volume - now we publish it in its entirety with the permission of the author.
The team
They asked me to write a short memoir about my experiences during the organization and execution. I joined the organizing team of the three-day visit very late, barely five weeks before the arrival of the Holy Father. Among other things, my task was to coordinate the meeting with representatives of scientific and cultural life in the hall of the Faculty of Information Technology and Bionics of Pázmány Péter Catholic University. The preparation of the protocol event planned for two hundred people had already begun, so I took up the work with three great colleagues - Dean György Cserey, Operations Manager Áron Nedeczky and event organizer Nikolett Kovács (Lounge).
The task was not completely unfamiliar to me, because I was one of the coordinators of the visit of Pope Francis on the closing day of the Eucharistic Congress, so I knew what a complex and constantly changing organizational period awaits us.
I would like to highlight only one thing from these weeks: THE TEAM. All caps!
At each stage of the organization, the entire team worked with such flexibility, concentrating on solving problems and changes, with a calmness and patience that I have never seen before.
The experience
In retrospect, I know what could have moved us. In the moments of the Holy Father's arrival, when he leaned on his cane and walked from the back of the plane to the crowd waiting for him, we could experience the determination and joy with which he prepared to meet us. We could feel this in our hearts during the organization, and it helped us through the maze of preparations.
The prayer
However, the visit of the Holy Father did not begin for me then, but a year and a half earlier, when we were preparing for the closing day of the Eucharistic Congress. It was an exciting, new task to get involved in the organization, and I didn't know then that the most beautiful and at the same time most difficult moments of my life were waiting for me that day. Many of us were waiting for the closing mass, my whole family was preparing to be there.
My father, who had been suffering from a serious lung disease for years, followed the broadcast of the week of the congress, and not a day went by that he did not tell the bystanders that he would soon be able to participate in a Mass with Pope Francis in Budapest. However, the Good Lord called him to another meeting and called him home to his father's house one day before the arrival of the Holy Father. After the painful, yet intimate, prayer-filled hours, I found it difficult to return to my work and finish the last tasks. Maybe I wasn't quite there - certainly not in spirit. Until the moment when
the Holy Father approached me, took both of my hands and said: Your father is in a good place! I pray for him. ...and began to say the Lord's Prayer... Just a few minutes during which heaven and earth met for me,
because my father was not only there at the mass, but the Holy Father turned towards him! Days later, I realized that the choir was singing the song Jesus Christ, you are my life on the platform, thus joining my family in the square in the prayer for the father.
I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to thank you for all of this! At the end of the university program, however, I was able to visit Pope Francis. As I approached, I thanked him for praying with me for my father during his last visit. And when I was about to move on, he pulled me back and asked:
“And you pray for me? I need it! I'm getting ready to be where he is!"
…Holy Father! Thank you with a grateful heart for coming to me and embracing my whole family in your prayers. We accompany your service with our prayers!
Featured image: Attila Lambert/Hungarian Kurír
