Will Pope Francis meet Hungary’s far-right authoritarian Viktator? Well, it depends who do you ask.
Orbán controlled Hungarian media claims that Francis will meet Hungarian President János Áder and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on the morning of September 12 at the Museum of Fine Arts. (Click here to read) The Pope himself never expressed desire to meet Orbán who desperately needs a photo op with the Pope to win over Hungary’s Catholic voters. (Read more about the visit here)
Now Pope Frances says that he is not sure about any meeting with the Hungarian leader. When asked about it this what he said:
“I don’t know if I am going to meet him. I know that authorities will come to greet me. I am not going to the center of Budapest, but to the place of the [Eucharistic] Congress, and there is a hall where I will meet with the bishops, and there I will receive the authorities who will come. I don’t know who will come. The president I know because he was at the Mass in Transylvania, that part of Romania where they speak Hungarian, a beautiful Mass in Hungarian, and he came with a minister. I think it wasn’t Orbán…” (Read the interview with the Pope here)
Just recently, the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Viktor Orbán clashed on immigration at the Bled Strategic Forum. Not a good sign just a week ahead of the pope’s trip to Budapest.
Cardinal Parolin and Orbán sat on the same stage in Slovenia responding to questions about the EU and migration. The Vatican’s top diplomat said that “It’s not an easy task, but I think that we share the view that migration is a common problem … and should be tackled together. No nation and no state, no government, should be left alone to face this problem, but it has to be a common policy of the European Union.”
Orbán on the other hand pounded the table that the EU was “to give all the rights back to the nation states in relation to migration.” He added that “If we invite others from outside Europe, that will change the cultural identity of Europe. There are some countries who accept it. Hungary is not among the countries.”
It seems that Cardinal Parolin was annoyed. The Vatican’s call for a common EU policy on migration is in sharp contrast with Orbán’s borderline xenophobe outburst on the panel. The Holy See supports countries with a focus on the positive effects of migration and peaceful integration of immigrants into societies putting Christian fraternity in the center of the discussion.
Pope Francis will arrive in Budapest on the morning of Sept. 12 and will spend only seven hours in the country. Orbán will do every communication trick to produce a photo with the Pope. Francis should remember his last century predecessor Pope Pius XII whose gradual appeasement policies toward far-right dictators tarnished the image of Papacy for decades.
He should avoid contact with Viktor Orbán and denounce the policies of current Hungarian government.
György Lázár
Have you ever thought that just maybe, a visit by Pope Francis would tarnish Mr. Orban’s reputation? This so-called Pope has thrown Christian principles out the window and has even said he is not the vicar of Christ.
A lollipop on the left.
If the pope does not wish to meet with Mr. Orban, he should stay out of Hungary. Hungary longed ignored the pope’s Marxist policies. Hungary is probably the most Christian country in the EU and does not need a visit from the pope to affirm this fact.
The Pope would have to do a lot to reach the level of tarnished reputation that this site has, with its increasingly gruesome positions. Last article you compared Hungarians celebrating their national holiday with Nazis, based on some flimsy visual parallels drawn.
Now, this attack on the Pope for the simple fact that he might meet with Orban? I can think of many far worse people that he could meet with, that would tarnish his reputation based on the Catholic faith. After all, he is the head of the Catholic Church. For instance, all the Western leaders pushing heavily on the Alphabet agenda, including heavy indoctrination of young children with that agenda, to the point where studies show higher rates of Alphabet inclinations than one would think to see naturally occurring within the human population. Based on Catholic teachings that is a far more serious divergence with the Vatican than Orban’s position against the mass-colonization of Europe. It is a shame that it is the current policy of the Vatican to promote that. It has little to do with Catholic teaching, rather with the pro-migrant views of a South American Pope.
Not only does Orbán not have a single Christian bone in his body, but his politics are the polar opposite of Jesus’ ministry on earth. He has explicit contempt for the poor, he turns away the stranger knocking at the door, kicks the man bleeding by the side of the road and when the crowd casts stones, he says “not enough” and tells them to find larger rocks.
The Vicar of Christ should not meet with Orbán.
Well said, the hypocrisy and cynicism are astounding, and even more so how people will blindly swallow it whole. Also interesting how on this article and on this site, yours is the only comment seemingly not left by someone being paid to defend the regime.
There is a news site I read regularly, where there is clear empirical evidence that the forum has been invaded by an ideological troll farm. Not only are there more comments that suddenly appear to support an ideological viewpoint, but comments are voted up/down based on ideological points, rather than on reasonable, factual points. It used to be more balanced, with diverse views, then within about a week, it went to 90% of comments and votes going towards the progressive, Neo-Marxist viewpoints and 90% against all others. That is clear evidence that it is a troll farm that has been activated to sway public opinion on that site. It is not in English and it is the most popular site in that country. It is most likely a few individuals running multiple accounts, paid by some entity with an interest to do so. That is an evident case of paid troll activity. Strong circumstantial evidence, given that the sudden shift is inexplicable.
What do you have to offer here as even circumstantial evidence that anyone commenting here is paid? The gentleman running this site apparently has a habit of checking on commenters, based on a conversation I had with him, so he must know it is unlikely that I am paid to comment here. I just show up occasionally to keep it honest!
Mr. Orban is absolutely right in his position to protect the hungarian society, and if the Pope doens’t want to meet him, well that’s life; sometimes the Pope’s opinions with respect to globalism, the family values etc. are similar to Soros and his cronies.
I like Orban.