VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis met Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Thursday, expressing appreciation for Budapest taking in Ukrainian refugees, and Orban invited the pope to make a state visit to Hungary.
Orban, on his first international visit since winning a fourth consecutive landslide election victory this month, spoke to the pope privately for about 40 minutes in the pontiff’s library in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace.
The Vatican said there would be no statement because the visit was a private one.
A video released by Vatican television showed the pope giving Orban a medal of St. Martin of Tours, a fourth century French saint who was born in what is today Hungary.
According to legend, St. Martin cut his cloak in half and shared it with a beggar.
“I chose this for you ... I thought of you Hungarians who are now receiving the refugees,” Francis said.
The UN refugee agency says the number of people fleeing Ukraine to escape Russia’s invasion has passed 5 million in Europe’s worst refugee crisis since the end of World War Two.
About 625,000 refugees have arrived in Hungary since the start of the war and about 80 percent of them have moved on, according to the latest figures from the Hungarian government.
State news agency MTI quoted Orban as saying the pope “encouraged us that we shouldn’t give up this good habit of ours,” referring to taking in refugees.
Orban and the pope have previously differed on immigration policy in Europe.
On his way to Slovakia last September, Francis stopped in Budapest for seven hours to close a Church congress in the Hungarian capital.
Orban said he invited the pope to visit Hungary next year and received an “encouragingly positive answer,” according to MTI.
At the end of Thursday’s private audience, Francis was heard telling Orban: “God bless you, you family and Hungary.” Orban responded: “We are waiting for you.”
Pope thanks Orban for taking Ukrainians, Orban invites pope to Hungary
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Pope thanks Orban for taking Ukrainians, Orban invites pope to Hungary
- Orban spoke to the pope privately for about 40 minutes in the pontiff's library in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace
- The Vatican said there would be no statement because the visit was a private one
Hundreds rally in Paris to support Ukraine after four years of war
- Demonstrators chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it“
- “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine“
PARIS: Around one thousand took to the streets of Paris on Saturday to show their “massive support” for Ukraine, just days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Demonstrators marching through the French capital chanted: “We support Ukraine against Putin, who is killing it,” and “Frozen Russian assets must be confiscated, they belong to Ukraine.”
“In public opinion, there is massive support for Ukraine that has not wavered since the first day of the full-scale invasion” by the Russian army on February 24, 2022, European Parliament member Raphael Glucksmann, told AFP.
“On the other hand, in the French political class, sounds of giving up are starting to emerge. On both the far left and the far right, voices of capitulation are getting louder and louder,” he added.
In the crowd, Irina Kryvosheia, a Ukrainian who arrived in France several years ago, “thanked with all her heart the people present.”
She said they reminded “everyone that what has been happening for four years is not normal, it is not right.”
Kryvosheia said she remains in daily contact with her parents in Kyiv, who told her how they were deprived “for several days” of heating, electricity and running water following intense bombardments by the Russian army.
Francois Grunewald, head of “Comite d’Aide Medicale Ukraine,” had just returned from a one-month mission in the country, where the humanitarian organization has delivered around forty generators since the beginning of the year.
Russia’s full-scale invasion sent shockwaves around the world and triggered the bloodiest and most destructive conflict in Europe since World War II.
The war has seen tens of thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of military personnel killed on both sides. Millions of refugees have fled Ukraine, where vast areas have been devastated by fighting.
Russia occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and its heavy attacks on the country’s energy sites have sparked a major energy crisis.
