About 700 pilgrims left Budapest on Monday for Poland, to the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Czestochowa, founded by the Hungarian Pauline order, on the Black Madonna pilgrimage train.
Miklós Soltész, the Prime Minister's Secretary of State responsible for church and ethnic relations, referred to the Russian-Ukrainian war before the departure, asking us not to allow ourselves to be dragged into "what is not our business, not our war".
We must win in peace through prayers and friendships - he emphasized, then added that we must also pray for the thousand-year friendship between Hungary and Poland.
Attila Fülöp, the State Secretary responsible for the care policy of the Ministry of the Interior, who is a passenger on the pilgrimage train with his family, emphasized: in today's tangled, restless world, such pilgrimages are more needed than at any time in his time. This also shows that "the Hungarian people keep their faith, are proud of their faith and profess it," he said.
He noted that young people living in state care are also traveling with them, for whom such a trip is even more spiritual and empowering than anyone else on the train.
Pécs county bishop László Felföldi said, "we will not arrive in Czestochowa, but in our hearts", where joy, peace and love must be found. Because no matter where we go, if we haven't arrived there, we haven't gotten anywhere, then we've stayed where we are. Pilgrimage helps with this.
The match continues, the fight between good and evil, in which we represent peace, he said.
Bishop József Tamás, who came from Transylvania, said that they are traveling to Czestochowa with the aim of asking the Good Lord to calm down this turbulent world today and give us all peace of mind.
László Mosóczi, the CEO of MÁV-Start Zrt., recalled that Missizí Tours and the MÁV-Volán group have been working together since 2011, during which time they transported around 30 pilgrim trains and 21,000 passengers to various domestic and international pilgrimage sites.
László Budai, the organizer of the 8th Pilgrim Train of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the head of Mission Tours, added that since the pandemic, they have not been to Czestochowa by train, where the pilgrims will mainly participate in spiritual programs.
On Thursday, on the feast day of our King Saint László, who was born to a Polish mother, they will attend mass in Krakow, II. in St. John Paul's Basilica.
MTI
Cover image: József Tamás, the retired auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Gyulafehérvár, says a prayer before the departure of the Black Madonna pilgrimage train.
Attila Fülöp Mögötte, State Secretary responsible for care policy at the Ministry of the Interior (j2), Miklós Soltész, State Secretary responsible for church and ethnic relations at the Prime Minister's Office (j3), László Mosóczi, CEO of MÁV-START (b3) and Pécs County Bishop László Felföldi (b2) Source: MTI / Noémi Bruzák
