The Pope arrives Friday, April 28 in Hungary for a three-day visit. He will notably meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. And the least we can say is that the two men do not have the same vision of Christianity.
We must expect some well-felt formulas from the Sovereign Pontiff, he is used to them. During this trip, which is his 41st apostolic trip in 10 years, the pope, whose health has become fragile, will deliver six speeches and an open-air mass on Sunday. No doubt he will launch a new appeal to welcome migrants and refugees.
While on this subject, the Hungarian Prime Minister is above all a specialist in the construction of walls. Viktor Orban, initially unbelieving, now uses religion to consolidate his power. And in his mind, protecting the Christian values of Hungary and Europe is above all closing doors. Last year, Hungary only granted refugee status to 18 people in 12 months. She was certainly more welcoming to Ukrainians, she saw a million of them pass. But they do not stay because they do not feel welcome in Hungary: only 35,000 have applied for temporary protection status.
Another point of contention between the two men: questions of sexual orientation. The pope has developed an unprecedented opening speech for the Catholic Church. For him to criminalize homosexuality is a mistake and being homosexual is not a crime. Viktor Orban stigmatizes the LGBT community, openly flouts its rights and wants to be the defender of the “traditional family”.
A strong disagreement on migrants and on homosexuals
But that will not prevent the Hungarian Prime Minister from trying to profit from this visit. He will first point out that this is his third meeting with the pope in three years, even if the previous two were very brief. And he will insist on what he sees as a common objective: to defend Christianity under attack, attacked first by secularization, the global decline of religion in this former country of the communist Eastern bloc. Less than 40% of the 10 million Hungarians claim to be Catholic.
Viktor Orban had the Hungarian Constitution amended to engrave references to God and marriage. It supports family policies. It promotes the funding of Catholic schools, which now represent a quarter of secondary schools in the country. So many points on which he will insist claim the support of Pope Francis.
The hypothesis of a common message in Moscow
As for the war in Ukraine, it is not the central object of the trip. But it will definitely be. The two men, again, do not agree on everything. Viktor Orban spares Russia, which also has the gift of irritating the 26 other members of the European Union. Pope Francis denounces “a cruel war (…) which martyrizes Ukraine”. It’s not the same story. But the 86-year-old pontiff and the 59-year-old prime minister can agree on one thing: a joint call for a cessation of hostilities. And between them, they may have the ability to make themselves heard by Moscow, to convince Vladimir Putin of the usefulness of a negotiation.