Pope greets Hungarian Papal Institute on 75th anniversary

The pope noted that during Hungary’s communist rule the institute had been exposed to a series of insults and dangers and therefore “sought and found support at the Holy See.”

Pope Francis expressed good wishes and the hope that the institute would continue to promote the intellectual and spiritual progress of all Hungarian priests and other students living among its walls, and their “closest possible community” with the Catholic Church.

The institute operates in the Palazzo Falconieri, a baroque palace built in the 1640s by Francesco Borromini on Rome’s Via Giulia. After the Hungarian state purchased the building in 1927, it served as the Hungarian Papal Institute since 1940.