On his first trip abroad after his re-election in the elections on April 3, the Hungarian ultra-conservative leader holds a 40-minute meeting with Francis at the Vatican
The meeting between Pope Francis and the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, lasted forty minutes at the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican on his first official visit abroad after his re-election in the legislative elections on April 3. In his private audience with the ultra-conservative leader, the Pontiff thanked him for opening its doors to Ukrainian refugees fleeing their country due to the Russian invasion. Orbán and the Pope already met on September 12 during the brief visit that the Bishop of Rome made to Budapest on the occasion of the closing of the International Eucharistic Congress held in the Hungarian capital. They also met at an audience with various European Christian leaders and parliamentarians at the Vatican in 2016.
Although Bergoglio and the Hungarian head of government agree on aspects of Catholic doctrine such as the rejection of abortion, they maintain very different positions on other issues, such as the reception of migrants of other religions. After being inflexible about the entry into Hungarian territory of displaced persons fleeing from Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, countries whose population is predominantly Muslim, Orbán has instead been much more understanding with the Ukrainian refugees, who are of the Christian religion, whether they are Orthodox or Eastern Rite Catholics. Hungary, in fact, today welcomes more than 450,000 refugees from that country, according to UN data, a reality that the Pope wanted to thank in his meeting with Orbán, according to sources from the Holy See.
“God bless you, bless your family and Hungary,” Bergoglio told the ultra-conservative Magyar leader in English as he bid him farewell. He replied, also in English: “We are waiting for you”, hinting that he had invited him to visit his country, where the Pope was for only seven hours last September. Accompanied by his wife and by the deputy prime minister, Zsolt Semjen, Orbán gave the Pontiff two books: one on the composer Bela Bartok and another on lyrical music that included a CD. Bergoglio, for his part, presented him with a copy of his magisterial texts and with a bronze medallion in which Saint Martin protects the poor, giving them a part of his cape. “I have given you this medallion thinking of the arrival of so many Ukrainian refugees,” he told her.
After meeting with the Pope, Orbán held a meeting with his historic Italian ally, the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini. When asked by journalists if the interview was appropriate at this time, due to the good relationship between the Hungarian leader and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, Salvini recalled that the Magyar prime minister had been received before by the Pontiff.
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