Bishops mourn Polish pilgrims killed in Hungary after Medjugorje trip

Twelve Polish pilgrims died and 10 were seriously injured when their bus crashed in Hungary on Aug. 16. They were returning from a pilgrimage to the Marian shrine at Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Others among the roughly 60 people on board suffered minor injuries, and an investigation into the crash has been launched.

The tragedy prompted immediate reactions from public figures, including condolences from Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk. The Polish prime minister sent a special aircraft to Hungary carrying representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and medical services to assist those affected. Polish President Karol Nawrocki said he was praying for “the families and loved ones of the victims.”

The heads of both the Polish and the Hungarian bishops' conferences also responded to the accident.

Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdańsk, president of the Polish Bishops' Conference, received the news “with great sadness” and prayed “for eternal life for the tragically deceased victims of the accident and for the recovery of the injured.”

Wojda extended prayers “to the families of those who died and those…