Beatification at the Eucharistic Congress - what are the chances?

We have reason to hope that the beatification process of Cardinal József Mindszenty will take another step forward until the Eucharistic Congress 2020 in Hungary said Cardinal Péter Erdő, who, following the Vatican consults, also gave a report on the visit of Pope Francis to Csíksomlyó (Șumuleu Ciuc) to the Hungarian Television (MTI) on 15 February.

Péter Erdő said that during his stay in the Vatican he expressed his gratitude to Pope Francis for having authorised the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to issue a decree in recognition of the heroic virtues of Cardinal József Mindszenty. According to the Cardinal’s report, Pope Francis responded with joy and declared that Cardinal Mindszenty’s process of canonization “was very well-founded”. According to Péter Erdő this suggests that the process at the Holy See was long, but at the same time exhaustive in all respects. The competent Congregation examined many documents, recordings and American diplomatic documents as well.

“The Holy See recognised the heroic virtues of József Mindszenty, which is essentially the recognition of the fact that the Cardinal loved God, his Church, his county, and his people very much beyond any doubt, and he raised his voice for the fundamental human rights even when this proved to be dangerous for him”, said Péter Erdő.

He added: “It would be great if the Eucharistic Congress could be accompanied by beatification”. He said that “we can be hopeful” about this, although another miracle shall be approved by a medical committee for the beatification of József Mindszenty, but “don’t set limits on grace”.

Péter Erdő said that during his visit to the Vatican several cardinals and Church leaders noted that they were preparing for the Eucharistic Congress in Hungary, and indicated their readiness to hold catecheses for the big international audience.

Péter Erdő expressed great pleasure to Pope Francis over his visit to Csíksomlyó on behalf of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference. He quoted an earlier statement of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference, according to which the Hungarian bishops will also be present, and all the faithful are invited to participate to “pray together for our nation and for the whole region” in Csíksomlyó.

During his stay in the Vatican, Péter Erdő participated in the plenary meeting of Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The Congregation’s objective is to promote the development of liturgy, thus to ensure both the theological depth and the active participation of the faithful in the liturgy and homily of the Holy Mass. He highlighted that the Holy Mass is not principally a spectacle, but the music accompanying the ceremony, clothing, and even the furnishings of the church have an important role. The art of liturgical celebration (ars celebrandi) forms an integral part of the training of clergy in order to address the various age groups of faithful. “Plenty of baptized Catholic people don’t go to church, so the whole church programme including liturgy shall be composed in a way that right from the reception of people arriving in the church, we should keep in mind what do those think about this who came to the church for the first time. Thus, we should receive everyone as an inviting, open community paying attention to every single person”, said Péter Erdő. He also emphasised that the homily should be concentrated, the speaker should be well-prepared and he should in the first place be able to answer two questions before he takes the microphone: what he wants to teach the assembled faithful, and for what action he wants to call them related to the biblical passages. Péter Erdő added that the aim of homily is to communicate the message of the gospel to the audience, therefore it can be about family, work, illness, the problems of various age groups, and the current issues of the wider local community.

Source: MTI

Photo: L’Osservatore Romano/PMI