APOSTOLIC JOURNEY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS to HUNGARY
(28 - 30 APRIL 2023)
MEETING WITH THE AUTHORITIES, CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS
Former Carmelite Monastery (Budapest)
Friday, 28 April 2023
This is the excerpt about abortion. Read the entire speech on the Vatican website.
I think of a Europe that is not hostage to its parts, neither falling prey to self-referential forms of populism nor resorting to a fluid, if not vapid, “supranationalism” that loses sight of the life of its peoples. This is the baneful path taken by those forms of “ideological colonization” that would cancel differences, as in the case of the so-called gender theory, or that would place before the reality of life reductive concepts of freedom, for example by vaunting as progress a senseless “right to abortion”, which is always a tragic defeat. How much better it would be to build a Europe centred on the human person and on its peoples, with effective policies for natality and the family like those pursued attentively in this country – there are countries in Europe with a medium age of 46-48 –, a Europe whose different nations would form a single family that protects the growth and uniqueness of each of its members. The most famous bridge in Budapest, the chain bridge, helps us to envision that kind of Europe, since it is composed of many great and diverse links that derive their solidity and strength from being joined together. In this regard, the Christian faith can be a resource, and Hungary can act as a “bridge builder” by drawing upon its specific ecumenical character. Here, different confessions, with whom I met a year and a half ago, live together without friction, cooperating respectfully and constructively. My thoughts turn with great affection to the Abbey of Pannonhalma, one of the great spiritual monuments of this country, a place of prayer and itself a bridge of fraternity.