Hungary has been asked to share its unique experience in using humanitarian aid to assist in the survival of persecuted Christians and other religious groups.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hosted Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, to discuss supporting Christians in troubled areas.
Referring to recent attacks against Christians in Pakistan’s Jaranwala region, the state secretary said the violence “cannot be justified by any argument”.
Hungary has provided 3,000 US dollars in emergency humanitarian assistance to the Nigerian Catholic Church.
The call was in connection with reports that terrorists attacked a Catholic parish in Nigeria and murdered the local priest there on Saturday night.
The state secretary said Europe’s Christian culture should be protected and “aid should be granted where problems arise rather than bringing the problems over here."
“We just had a historic meeting with Abdul Latif Rashid, President of Iraq, as no Hungarian President has ever visited Baghdad before. We both agreed that international terrorism is our common enemy and we condemn all of its forms," the president said.
The government’s Hungary Helps program has spent some 80 million dollars on reconstructing schools and hospitals and on economic support enabling locals to stay in their homeland.
The president discussed the importance of peace with outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid in Tel-Aviv.
Bishop Nalbandian said the government’s help was important in Syria where after ten years of war and in the midst of an economic crisis, efforts are under way to rebuild destroyed churches and schools.
The Deputy PM said one out of eight Christians is persecuted for their faith today, mainly in Islamic countries.
“Both countries are committed to concrete and swift action. While the primary concern for both governments must be to take care of their own people, helping those in need is rooted in our Christian cultural backgrounds,” Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, said at a press conference earlier today.
Through illegal migration, the prime minister said earlier today, masses of radical Islamists have come to Europe. In the not-so-distant future, this could lead to a swift change in the religious-cultural composition of the continent.