A more than expected visit. Pope Francis will travel from April 28 to 30 to Budapest where he will meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a sovereigntist leader whose anti-migrant policy he does not share and who wishes to maintain ties with Moscow.
The 86-year-old Argentinian Jesuit will be received on April 28 by Viktor Orban, the Vatican announced on Monday February 27. The pontiff and the leader had previously met in the Vatican as well as in Budapest, during a first whirlwind visit by the pope in September 2021.
For his 41st international trip since his election in 2013, Jorge Bergoglio will also meet refugees and poor people, young people, members of the local Church and representatives of the academic and cultural sector, according to the program released by the Vatican.
“I am very happy, the pope had this project in his heart for a long time”, reacted to Agence France-Presse the ambassador of Hungary to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg. According to him, “the Holy Father’s vision on the subject of migrants and refugees is much more nuanced than one sometimes gets the impression in the media”.
“The Hungarian government has never had a problem with refugees. The problem is illegal migrants; but a refugee will always be welcomed in Hungary, as we see now with Ukrainian refugees,” he added. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have crossed the border since the start of the Russian invasion a year ago, and 34,248 have been granted refugee status in Hungary as of February 24, according to the latest figures from the Hungarian Authority for immigration.
The pope had already made a seven-hour stopover in Budapest in September 2021 before a visit to Slovakia. On that occasion, he presided over a mass and called on Hungarians to be “open” to everyone.
A few months later, in April 2022, the head of the Church received Viktor Orban for the first time at the Vatican. During this private audience, he had expressed to the Hungarian leader his gratitude for the protection that Hungary offers to refugees fleeing the war in neighboring Ukraine.
The two men have conceptions of religion at the antipodes: Viktor Orban, from a Calvinist background, brandishes his attachment to a “Christian Europe” to justify his anti-immigrant policy, while the sovereign pontiff gives a benevolent welcome a believer’s duty.
The war in Ukraine should constitute one of the stakes of this visit, whereas the innumerable appeals of the pope for peace and the initiative of the Holy See for a mediation have remained a dead letter.
Committed to the defense of “Christian values”, Viktor Orban is keen to maintain ties with Moscow. He refrains from criticizing Russian President Vladimir Putin and refuses to send weapons to kyiv, calling instead for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks.
Francis is the second pope to visit Hungary, a central European country of nearly 10 million people, after visits by John Paul II in 1991 and 1996. Despite his advanced age and knee pain forcing him to move around in a wheelchair, the head of the Catholic Church continues to travel. He is due to go to Lisbon in August and Marseille in September.
