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Péter Szijjártó had a meeting in the Vatican about aid to persecuted Christians

On Thursday the 3rd of September, Péter Szijjártó, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade participated in a consultation in the Vatican with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Holy See, about aid to persecuted Christians. After the meeting, Szijjártó told MTI that the Vatican could count on Hungary to help the Christian communities in need.

Péter Szijjártó said that the main topic of their meeting was the need for action against the globally increasing anti-Christianism. He remarked that the diplomatic leaders of the two countries consulted with each other, at least twice a year.

“Hungary has a millennial Christian statehood, so we cannot allow from time to time attacks on Christianity to prevail over Christian values,” declared Szijjártó.

He remarked that both parties agreed that in our days, Christianity is being attacked from every direction, whether it is a physical, political, or ideological attack. 

“We are also attacked from where we did not expect; from Western Europe, where they query the Christian values and want to eliminate Europe’s Christian identity, roots, and traditions”, he added.

He also said that Christianity became the most persecuted religion of the world; more than 250 million Christians face daily violence and persecution. In recent years, tens of thousands of churches and Christian buildings were targets of attacks, attempted attacks, or destruction. Szijjártó highlighted that the Hungarian government is committed to continue supporting the Christian communities in need.

The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs reported to the Vatican about the promptly provided subsidy that the Hungarian government sent to the Maronite Church of Lebanon after the explosion in Beirut, but he also mentioned the aid to Christians in the Middle East and the reception of more than two hundred Christian students from the Middle East in Hungarian universities.

He also talked about the situation of the Catholic Church in Hungary. He highlighted that there is a continuous, and smooth cooperation between the State and the Church, and added that while in many western countries hundreds of churches have been closed in the last years, the Hungarian government is providing help for the restoration of the Catholic churches.

“In the last four years, we have restored or built three thousand Christian churches in Hungary and in territories of the Carpathian Basin, inhabited by Hungarians, and the number of religious schools has been duplicated”, he said and added that Hungary is ready to organise next September the International Eucharistic Congress, that was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: MTI     

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