{"id":85552,"date":"2026-08-18T13:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/?p=85552"},"modified":"2026-08-18T13:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T17:53:34","slug":"pope-mourns-victims-of-polish-bus-crash-in-hungary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/pope-mourns-victims-of-polish-bus-crash-in-hungary\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Mourns Victims Of Polish Bus Crash In Hungary Returning From Medjugorje"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Aleteia<\/em>:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In a telegram made public on August 18, 2026,\u00a0Pope Leo XIV<\/a>\u00a0expressed his closeness to the victims of a bus crash. The vehicle was carrying Polish pilgrims returning from the shrine of\u00a0Medjugorje<\/a>. The accident occurred overnight between August 15 and 16 in Hungary. This tragedy caused 12 deaths and left 10 people in critical condition.<\/p>\n

The Polish-language telegram was published on the official\u00a0Vatican News<\/a>\u00a0website. It was addressed to Archbishop Adam Szal of Przemy\u015bl and Bishop Jan W\u0105troba of Rzesz\u00f3w, the heads of the two dioceses where the passengers lived. The Pope said he learned \u201cwith deep sorrow\u201d the news of this \u201ctragic road accident,\u201d in which some pilgrims died and others were \u201cseriously injured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV assures all those affected by the tragedy of his \u201cspiritual proximity.\u201d The Pontiff notes that he is offering \u201cparticular prayers\u201d for the victims. He entrusts to God’s mercy the pilgrims who, \u201creturning from a pilgrimage of faith, have completed their earthly pilgrimage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A gift of consolation<\/h3>\n

The Holy Father also prays for the victims’ families. He asks the Lord to grant them \u201cthe gift of consolation\u201d as they grieve. Through the intercession of Our Lady of Cz\u0119stochowa, Pope Leo XIV \u201centrusts them all to God.\u201d He grants them his apostolic blessing, which he offers as a \u201csign of paternal proximity and Christian hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The accident occurred overnight on the M3 motorway in\u00a0Hungary<\/a>, after the bus drove off the road. An investigation is currently underway to determine the circumstances and causes of the tragedy, which claimed at least 12 lives.<\/p>\n

Painful context<\/h3>\n

On July 22, 2007, 26\u00a0Polish<\/a>\u00a0pilgrims died and 24 others were injured in a bus crash near the shrine of Our Lady of La Salette in the Is\u00e8re region of southeastern France. This disaster had a significant impact in both France and Poland. The respective presidents at the time, Nicolas Sarkozy and Lech Kaczy\u0144ski, immediately visited the site.<\/p>\n

This new tragedy occurs within a painful context regarding the connection between Medjugorje and Poland. On July 28, 2026, a 31-year-old Polish national was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention after committing serious acts of vandalism and starting a fire at the Marian shrine in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The man, who suffers from psychiatric disorders, was a regular visitor to the shrine. He had previously testified about overcoming his drug addiction in evangelization videos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From Aleteia: In a telegram made public on August 18, 2026,\u00a0Pope Leo XIV\u00a0expressed his closeness to the victims of a.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-85552","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85552"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85554,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85552\/revisions\/85554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spiritdaily.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}