The Pilgrimage in Sumuleu Ciuc is an inheritance of Transylvania, it is a sign of dialogue, unity and fraternity, and respects the Romanian and Hungarian religious customs – said Pope Francisc on Saturday during the liturgy at Şumuleu Ciuc.

“Do not let the rumors and wounds, which are meant to separate you, erase the feeling of brotherhood” – emphasized the leader of the Catholic Church, recalling that the Virgin Mary intervened with us all to do so.

Pope Francis reminded the faithful not to forget and deny the complex and sad events of the past, but this should not be a barrier to coexistence, it can not be an excuse.

On the second day of the visit to Romania, the Pope presented the liturgy in Latin at Sumuleu Ciuc in the presence of the 160 priests, “I am present at this Marian sanctuary with joy and gratitude to God”, the Pope said in his sermon in Italian, which was translated both in Romanian and in Hungarian.

According to the Pope, pilgrims go to Sumuleu Ciuc to find their true brothers among themselves. Pilgrimage means feeling the need to “start the road with others and ask for the Lord’s help to change our current and old grievances to change our mistrust of opportunities for the community.” He underlined that pilgrimage means breaking out from comfort zone, it is a challenge to discover and transmit the spirit of coexistence and not to be afraid of contact, meeting and mutual help. The leader of the Catholic Church encouraged believers not to seek explanations in the past but to have the inevitable future ahead of them.

During the Liturgy there was the 500-year-old statue of the Virgin Mary on the altar, which was brought to the spot only by this special occasion. At the end of the Liturgy, Pope Francis placed a golden rose at the feet of the Virgin Mary as a sign of respect.

At the end of the ceremony, Archbishop György Jakubinyi from Alba Iulia thanked Pope Francis for visiting Transylvania, recalling that twenty years ago, St. II. Pope John Paul was forced to limit his visit inRomania to Bucharest. Jakubinyi reminded that the pope promised to return to Romania, but this has never happened. The archbishop was delighted to tell us that after twenty years the dream of the Catholic believers in the four main dioceses of Transylvania was fulfilled.

Archbishop of Alba Iulia gave the Pope the painting Where heaven and earth meet, painted by Géza Xantus. The liturgy ended with the Hungarian and Szekler hymn.

At the Liturgy was participated: János Áder, Hungarian President, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and Romanian Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă.

More than 100,000 people were registered at the event, the pilgrims began gathering in the early hours of the day, not taking into account the cold and the rain, which ceased only at the beginning of the liturgy. The Pope arrived with a special car dedicated to the papal visit, created by the Dacia car factory from Romania.

The Pope’s visit to Sumuleu Ciuc is a historic event because the pope was at the first time in Transylvania.

Pope Francisc after the Liturgy in Sumuleu Ciuc went to Iasi where he spoke with a Romanian Catholic ethnicity and met with young people and families.

Source: 24.hu
(TFP translation)