Debrecen4U November 27, 2025

Papp László Presents Debrecen’s gift to Pope Leo

The gift is reminiscent of Pope John Paul II’s historic gesture in Debrecen.

László Papp met the Holy Father in Rome. On his Facebook page, the Mayor of Debrecen recalled that in August 1991 Pope John Paul II laid a wreath at the Memorial Column of the Galley Slaves in the Debrecen Memorial Garden, a gesture regarded as a historic step on the path of Christian reconciliation.

László Papp presented the work, symbolizing the original wreath, to Pope Leo XIV as a gift from the city of Debrecen on the occasion of the Holy Year.

During the Hungarian Counter-Reformation in 1674, more than seven hundred Protestant pastors and teachers were summoned before the special court set up in Bratislava. Of the 41 Hungarian Protestant pastors and teachers sentenced to galley slavery, 26 survived. Their fate caused great outrage in the Protestant countries of Europe. The prisoners were finally released by the Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter on February 11, 1676.

Their memorial was built in Debrecen in 1895 with a donation from Eufrosina Józsa, widow of Mihály Hegyi. The work became a symbol of the history of Hungarian Protestantism. During his visit to Hungary in 1991, Pope John Paul II held an ecumenical service in the Great Reformed Church of Debrecen on August 18, after which he visited the memorial and placed a wreath on the monument.

This is not the only gift that the Debrecen delegation brought to Rome on the occasion of the Holy Year. Debrecen donated a nativity scene consisting of ten sculptures to the Hungarian Academy in Rome. The work, titled “Timelessness in Holiness,” was blessed by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas on Tuesday.

Source: dehir.hu | Photo credit: Facebook Papp László