Top photo caption: Firefighters work at the scene of a deadly accident, where a bus carrying Polish pilgrims veered off the motorway and overturned, near Mezokeresztes, Hungary, in this handout image released on Aug. 16, 2026. Pope Leo XIV and the bishops of Poland and Hungary mourned the loss of several pilgrims who died in the Aug. 16 crash as they were returning home from Medjugorje. OSV News photo/Balazs Toth/Mezokovesd Kepekben handout via Reuters
By Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News
OSV News — Pope Leo XIV and the bishops of Poland and Hungary mourned the loss of several pilgrims who died in a bus crash as they were returning home from Medjugorje.
According to Vatican News, Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent condolences Aug. 18 on the Pope’s behalf to Polish Archbishop Adam Szal of Przemysl and Bishop Jan Franciszek Watroba of Rzeszów, who lead the dioceses to which the pilgrims belonged.
“Expressing his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this tragic event, the Holy Father offers special prayers for those brothers and sisters who, while returning from a pilgrimage of faith, completed their earthly pilgrimage,” Cardinal Parolin wrote.
The Pope, he added, prayed that the victims’ families would receive the gift of consolation and invoked the intercession of Our Lady of Czestochowa before imparting his blessing “as a sign of paternal closeness and Christian hope.”
According to Hungarian police, the accident occurred in the early hours of the morning Aug. 16, when the bus carrying 57 pilgrims veered off a highway near the Hungarian town of Mezokeresztes. According to news reports, they were returning to Poland after visiting the Marian shrine at Medjugorje in southwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“According to current information, it is suspected that the driver fell asleep,” subsequently forcing the bus into a ditch and causing it to overturn, police said in an Aug. 16 statement. The driver was taken into custody shortly after the accident.
The Reuters news agency reported Aug. 18 that a Hungarian court ruled the bus driver’s detention would continue after prosecutors argued that his negligence led to the deaths of 12 people and dozens seriously injured.
“According to the current state of the investigation … the driver was incapable of safely operating the vehicle, he fell asleep due to fatigue,” ?prosecutors said, according to Reuters.
The court ordered that the driver be detained for a month after prosecutors cited concerns that he may flee or interfere in the investigation. If tried and found guilty of negligent homicide, the driver could face between two and eight years in prison.
Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, released a statement hours after the accident, expressing his “great sorrow” for the deaths of the 12 pilgrims and the injured.
“I also extend my prayers to the families of those who died and were injured in the bus accident,” the bishop said in an Aug. 16 statement. “I ask God to grant them the gift of consolation, as well as the strength and hope to help them endure these incredibly difficult times.”
The president of the Hungarian bishops’ conference, Bishop János Székely of Szombathely, said he was “shocked” by the news of the accident and offered prayers for the deceased.
“I ask the Almighty to provide comfort to the relatives of the deceased in these difficult hours and to help the injured recover as soon as possible,” Bishop Székely said. “On behalf of all members of the Hungarian Catholic community, I assure our Polish brothers and sisters of my sympathy and solidarity.”
The accident also drew statements from world leaders, including Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar who expressed condolences on his Facebook page to the pilgrims’ families and wished “a speedy recovery to the injured.”
In a statement posted to his X account, Polish President Karol Nawrocki expressed his sadness about the accident “in which so many of our compatriots perished.”
“In the face of this unimaginable tragedy, which has touched us all, I join in prayer and profound compassion with the families and loved ones of the victims,” Nawrocki wrote.
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
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