President Sulyok: Pope Francis liked the Hungarians, being in Hungary was like coming home for him
Pope Francis was a “remarkable man”, President Tamás Sulyok told public news channel M1 following the late pontiff’s funeral Mass.
Pope Francis liked the Hungarians
Sulyok said that when it came to Pope Francis he had always felt that the pope had prioritised personal relationships, and that he had emanated “great joy and great freedom”.
“He was a free person, and I think he achieved complete inner peace and freedom through living the truth, which radiated from him,” Sulyok said. He said that as president, he had learned from Francis about the importance of being personal even when it came to international relations.
As regards the reasons why Hungarians held a special place in Pope Francis’s heart, Sulyok said the pontiff had told him that he liked Hungarians. He said the pope had explained to him that he had worked with Hungarian nuns in Argentina.
“I think he knew a lot of things about Hungary through his order, the Jesuits,” the president said. He said that when Francis visited Hungary for the International Eucharistic Congress, he had seen “certain changes on the face of the pope”.
Francis came home to Hungary
“To some extent, being in Hungary was like coming home for him, and I think Hungarians, too, will always remember him and his relationship with Hungarians … with love,” Sulyok said.
He said one thing from the late pontiff’s life’s work that Hungarians, both believers and non-believers, should take with them was his love for peace, adding that Francis had spread Christ’s peace in world politics.
“This was a very important step and conviction of Pope Francis,” the president said. “But I think we can learn from him the freedom that comes from inner peace and the happiness with which he lived his life.”
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