Pope Francis has landed in Hungary for a three-day pastoral visit, his first full trip to the country since he became Pope 10 years ago.
Pope Francis will outline his vision for the future of Europe during a three-day visit to Hungary that started on Friday, April 28, 2023, with Russia’s war in Ukraine, migration flows and Hungary’s tense relations with Brussels looming large over the pontiff’s weekend journey.
Hungarian officials say Francis’ pilgrimage was designed primarily to let the Pontiff minister to the country’s Catholic community and to encourage its members in their faith.
However, with the war unfolding next door and Hungary disagreeing with other European Union nations over issues pertaining to rule of law and LGBTQ+ rights, Pope Francis’ words and deeds in the heart of Europe will carry strong political undertones.
After landing at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc International Airport, Pope Francis met with President Katalin Novak and Prime Minister Viktor Orban. He is set to deliver his main political speech to Hungarian authorities and diplomats later Friday.
The Pope will have chance to speak to the Hungarian society and Europe at large in his final event on Sunday, April 30, 2023, when he is scheduled to address academic and cultural figures at Budapest’s Catholic University.
In between, Francis is set to meet with some of the 35,000 Ukrainian refugees who have remained in Hungary after 2.5 million fled across the country’s border with Ukraine early on in Russia’s invasion.
With Francis traveling closer to Ukraine than at any time since Russia invaded Ukraine, the war will also be front and center during his visit. He plans to visit a Greek Catholic church that delivered aid to Ukrainian refugees.
Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban has called for a cease-fire but has been lukewarm in his support of Ukraine, refusing to supply Kyiv with weapons and threatening to veto EU sanctions against Moscow while maintaining Hungary’s strong dependence on Russian energy.
Vatican Spokesman, Matteo Bruni divulged that Francis would use his time in the heart of Europe to look to the continent’s future.
“It’s difficult to not think about the European Union and all of Europe,” Bruni said of the trip. He noted that the “passion” for Europe had perhaps faded over the years and that Francis aimed to revive “the Europe of peoples, with its own history and responsibility in the commitment to global peace.”
The visit comes as the European Union’s parliament continues to put pressure on Hungary to counter what EU lawmakers consider a deterioration in the rule of law and democratic principles under Orban’s government, including rolling back the rights of LGBTQ+ people.
The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have called on the EU’s executive commission to withhold pandemic recovery funds for Hungary until liberal democracy principles are met.
Habsburg Claims Hungary Is Actually Upholding Europe’s Founding Ideals
Hungary’s Ambassador to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg, averred that he thinks Hungary is actually upholding Europe’s founding ideals better than many of its EU partners.
“Hungary has stayed true to the values that have always been the values of the European Union, which is family, faith, Christian, Judeo-Christian roots, sovereignty and all these things.”
Eduard Habsburg
“And you sometimes have the idea that … some of these have been lost in the western parts of Europe,” Habsburg added.
Hungary’s Constitution, approved unilaterally by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing populist Fidesz party in 2011, outlaws same-sex marriage, and the government has prohibited same-sex couples from adopting children.
The government has also outlawed the depiction of homosexuality or divergent gender identities to minors in media content.
Catholic doctrine also prohibits same-sex marriages. However, Pope Francis has backed legal protections for people in same-sex unions. He has long ministered to gay and transgender Catholics, while blasting “gender ideology” as an alleged form of the West’s ideological colonization of the developing world.
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