More than 200 Hungarian Roma pilgrims attended the papal audience on Saint Peter's Square in Rome on Wednesday morning.

Minister for Human Resources Zoltán Balog, who also attended the event, stated that "unless the Roma and all Hungarians find spiritual renewal, the country cannot be successful." The Minister emphasised that he supported the trip of the Roma pilgrims who arrived from various parts of Hungary and were led by Bishop János Székely, appointed by the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference for Roma pastoral care.

For the first time since Pope Francis has been holding audiences, he greeted the followers in Hungarian and excerpts from the Bible were read out also in Hungarian.

Minister Balog is scheduled to travel from Rome to Paris to attend the UNESCO General Meeting.

(Ministry of Human Resources)