Pope meets with Hungary’s Orban at Vatican

Pope Francis received Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban for the primary time at the Vatican on  Thursday and expressed his gratitude for the safe haven given to refugees fleeing the Ukraine warfare.

Francis spent about  40 mins with Orban,  a right-wing populist who received a fourth time period in the workplace in elections in advance this month — and has come beneath fireplace within the past for his policies towards non-European refugees.

The 85-year-old pontiff gave Orban a bronze tile depicting St Martin protecting the poor and noted the central European country’s efforts to welcome those fleeing Russia’s invasion, the Vatican press stated.

Some 626,000 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Hungary since the war began on February 24, according to a government spokesman.

Of these, around 17,000 have applied for humanitarian protection and another 100,000 have applied for temporary residence permits.

On Facebook, Orban said he had “asked Pope Francis to support our efforts for peace” and posted a photo of himself with the pope.

In September, the Argentine pontiff met Orban on a whistle-stop trip to Hungary in which he called for greater openness.

The visit to the Vatican was the Hungarian prime minister’s first official overseas trip since winning a fresh term in general elections on April 3.

Following his past three election wins, Orban’s first visits were always to Poland — but lately, the two allies have taken different stances on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Warsaw has supported Kyiv, while Budapest has taken a more neutral stand.

The pope, who closed the Catholic Church’s International Eucharistic Congress festival in Budapest last year, has often urged help for the marginalized and people of all religions fleeing war and poverty.

In contrast, Orban, a Calvinist, styles himself as a leader defending “Christian Europe” from immigrants.

Pro-Orban media and political figures have called Francis “anti-Christian” for his pro-refugee sentiments.

Following his meeting with the pope, Orban met with Italian anti-immigration leader Matteo Salvini in Rome, the latter’s spokesman said.