Minister Szijjártó said all Christian communities in a difficult situation could rely on the Hungarian government, and welcomed recent talks between the Vatican and Israel concerning "the sad developments in recent...
Tristan Azbej visited the United States on Monday to attend an international conference on religious freedom and discuss the importance of helping persecuted Christians.
The foreign minister said the Middle East crisis posed a threat to security not only in Europe but the whole world.
The Hungary Helps international aid scheme launched seven years ago has supported the consolidation of Christian communities in the Middle East.
Tristan Azbej said, “people in crisis zones should be helped to stay in their homelands rather than promote migration”.
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.