Pope Francis Arrives in Hungary and Meets Viktor Orban

The Pope’s meeting with Orbán, with whom he sharply disagrees on migration, and Hungarian President János Áder took place at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.

Pope Francis greets Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President János Áder in Budapest, Sept. 12, 2021.
Pope Francis greets Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President János Áder in Budapest, Sept. 12, 2021. (photo: Vatican Media / Vatican Media)

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Pope Francis arrived Sunday morning in Hungary, where he met briefly with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The pope’s arrival in Budapest on Sept. 12 marks the 84-year-old pontiff’s first international trip since his colon surgery in July.

Pope Francis will spend roughly seven hours in Hungary, where he will offer the closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress, before flying on Sunday afternoon to Slovakia, where he will visit four cities on Sept. 12-15.

The Pope’s meeting with Orbán, with whom he sharply disagrees on migration, and Hungarian President János Áder took place at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The leaders met privately for about 15 minutes.

A photograph of the three men meeting was posted on Orbán’s Instagram account.

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A post shared by Orbán Viktor (@orbanviktor)

A photograph posted on the Twitter account of Vatican News showed the men sitting inside the museum, with the pope on one side, flanked by senior Vatican officials, and Orbán and Áder on the other.

Immediately after the meeting, which had been scheduled to last 30 minutes, the Pope gave a speech to the bishops of Hungary. He then took part in an ecumenical meeting with leaders of Hungary’s Protestant Christian, as well as representatives of the country’s Jewish communities.

Pope Francis speaks to journalists during the flight from Budapest to Italy on April 30 after his second visit to Hungary in less than two years.

Pope in Hungary, German Tax on Catholicism (May 6)

One of the top stories at NCRegister.com last month was about a web platform that seeks to combat porn addictions. The project took its inspiration from an unlikely source: Blessed Carlo Acutis. Register writer Solène Tadié wrote that story. She joins us now from Rome just days after she followed Pope Francis’ travels to Hungary last weekend. Solène gives us highlights about the unique ways of evangelizing in our culture and the impact of the Holy Father on young and old alike in Hungary. Then we turn to happenings in the Church in another European country, Germany. Jonathan Liedl has more on the situation there, and we examine the question: How does the German tax influence German Catholicism?