Aiding Christian communities in the Middle East will be in focus during Wednesday’s talks between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Foreign Minister has revealed.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said Hungary is proving through its actions that a European Christian state can assume responsibility for all of the world’s Christian communities.
During the opening of a conference of Middle Eastern Christian church leaders organized ahead of the high-level Hungarian-Russian summit, the Minister said church leaders will be meeting with PM Orbán and Putin, adding that their talks could open the door to new projects in the Middle East.
The Minister said there was a “consensus” in international political discourse that “the persecution of Christians is the last acceptable form of discrimination”.
Minister Szijjártó slammed what he called the international community’s refusal to address the issue of Christian persecution as “extreme hypocrisy”. He said the international community had a duty to take action for the protection of Christian communities.
The Minister highlighted how Christianity was the most persecuted religion in the world, with an average of 11 Christians killed every day for their faith. He noted that under the government’s Hungary Helps humanitarian aid program, Hungary has so far spent USD 40 million on rebuilding homes, churches and schools in the Middle East with a view to enabling Christians to remain in their homeland. Hungary has so far been able to help some 50,000 people through this scheme, he said, adding that even more people could be helped if the international community followed Hungary’s example.
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