The Catholic bishops of Hungary and Austria are going to meet all together for the first time in Mariazell on June 20th. This was reported today by the Austrian Catholic agency Kathpress, which said the Austrian bishops are going to be in Mariazell from 19th to 21st for the summer session of the plenary meeting, chaired by card. Christoph Schönborn. The date of June 20th will be devoted to a joint declaration of the Austrian and Hungarian Bishops Conferences that will mention the "alliance for a work-free Sunday", the pastoral for pilgrimages and for minorities in both countries and the pastoral for the Rom and Sinti communities. A common public celebration will be held at 11.15 am by the 21 Hungarian bishops and the 15 Austrian bishops in the Basilica of Mariazell, celebrated by the Hungarian cardinal Peter Erdö. After the Eucharist, a press conference will be held by cardinals Schönborn and Erdö at 12.30 am at the office of the Father Superior of Mariazell. As highlighted by the Austrian cardinal, the common session of the Hungarian and Austrian bishops has nothing to do with "nostalgia", but “is rather a direct consequence of the Middle European Catholics Day, which had its highlight on May 22nd with the ‘Peoples’ Pilgrimage’. Mariazell is an important Marian place for both Austria and Hungary and for centuries it has been the destination of Hungarian pilgrims to such an extent that it became a symbolic place of spiritual resistance to totalitarianism in the decades of the pro-Soviet regime. In the Basilica, a piece of barbed wire from the iron curtain at the Hungarian frontier recalls the gift of regained freedom.
