“Be Sentinels of Peace!”

The military pilgrimage – led by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States within the Holy See’s Secretariat of State – continued with a candlelight procession and ended with a ceremony. In his message to the thousands of pilgrims participating in the candlelight procession, Pope Francis encouraged them to “be sentinels of peace” and told them that “may you strengthen your conviction that love is stronger than hatred and division, and that you too are called to play an irreplaceable role for the common good and the service of peace in the world”. During the Marian candlelight procession, the worship songs of the pilgrims gathered and the light of peace filled the esplanade of the Rosary Basilica. This was among the most heart-lifting and spectacular moments of the pilgrimage.

The participants gathered together again for the closing Holy Mass and ceremony in the Underground Basilica of St. Pius X on Sunday morning, 26 May. The church, located under Boulevard Père Rémi Sempé in the town of the Pyrenees, was finished in 1957 and receives worthily the pilgrims visiting the shrine. Zsolt Barthel-Rúzsa told the delegation at the end of the pilgrimage, “I believe that the Holy Spirit has touched everyone during the days spent in Lourdes. I hope that what you received here will accompany you in your everyday life and you will be able to draw strength to serve as we prepare the Hungarian Defence Forces: to protect the homeland and the Hungarian citizens”.

“There is no morale without faith and there is no army without morale! I thank everyone who participated in this pilgrimage of several days, I am proud of you” – said General Dr Gábor Böröndi, Chief of HDF General Staff. He also added that “the enlisted personnel and reservists accompanied us as well as the officer cadets of the HDF Ludovika Battalion and the future soldiers represented by the cadets. I also give thanks to the members of the HDF Catholic Military Bishopric for their spiritual guidance, the ceremonial unit of the 32nd Bodyguard Regiment of the HDF “vitéz Szurmay Sándor” Budapest Garrison Brigade for their attitude and the Budapest Garrison Band for their artistic performance.” The pilgrimage has taken place each year since 1958, the 100th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes to Saint Bernadette Soubirous.

The initiative began in 1944, among the horrors of World War II, when the members of the French Army visited the venue of the appearances of Saint Bernadette Soubirous. Their goal was to get their mental and physical wounds healed and to recognize the joint identity of the Christians searching for peace in the rivalry of war. Since then, participants can experience fraternity and pray together for peace as a tradition.