Pope Francis, who arrived in Hungary on Friday for a three-day visit, called for "rediscovering the European soul" in the face of "bellicose infantilism" against a backdrop of rising nationalism and war in Ukraine.
In the streets of the capital, placed under tight security, the Argentinian Jesuit, 86, was greeted by residents waving flags of Hungary and the Vatican.
He will spend his entire stay there because of his fragile health, which will be observed closely, one month after his hospitalization.
In his maiden speech in the Central European country bordering Ukraine, the pope lamented “the sad decline of the choral dream of peace, as the soloists of war take its place.”
"Nationalisms are starting to rumble again", he underlined, judging that international politics "regresses towards a kind of bellicose infantilism". "It is therefore essential to rediscover the European soul", insisted the sovereign pontiff.
An exception within the European Union, Hungary has not cut its ties with the Kremlin: Prime Minister Viktor Orban is careful not to criticize the Russian president and refuses to send arms to Kiev.
For his part, the pope condemns the "aggression" of "martyred" Ukraine, but the Holy See is trying to maintain a dialogue with Moscow as best it can, although its attempt at mediation has not been successful so far. .
A few minutes earlier, François spoke with Mr. Orban for about twenty minutes, a meeting behind closed doors during which the Prime Minister insisted on Christianity as a “vector of peace”.
For the 59-year-old leader, who is committed to promoting "Christian civilization", the visit of the Pope barely two years after a seven-hour stopover in Budapest appears to be a diplomatic success.
"I'm happy, all eyes are on Hungary," Laszlo Temesi, a retired journalist who was on François' convoy, told AFP in the hope of catching a glimpse of him.
In this country of 9.7 million inhabitants, some 39% of whom are Catholics according to the latest figures dating from 2011, Viktor Orban and his supporters are keen to highlight the points in common with the head of the Catholic Church, in beyond the differences.
In his speech, the pope also praised the traditional Christian values carried by the Hungarian government, in particular through its "effective policies for the birth rate and the family".
He castigated in passing the "ideological colonizations that eliminate differences, as in the case of the so-called gender culture" and the "tragic failure" of abortion.
A fervent defender of the rights of refugees, Jorge Bergoglio nevertheless reminded Hungary of its duty to welcome migrants, insisting on the "need for openness to others" in the face of "rigidity", "closures" and the tendency at the "fallback".
Hungary has erected fences at its borders and restricted the submission of asylum applications to embassies abroad, attracting several condemnations from the Court of Justice of the EU.
In the afternoon, the pope met the local clergy, in the presence of some 5,000 people gathered in an atmosphere of meditation at Saint-Etienne basilica and on its square, where giant screens had been installed.
Faced with the "diffusion of secularism", he warned priests, deacons and religious against "the temptation to stiffen up, to close oneself off and to adopt a combatant attitude".
Aware of the diplomatic stakes of this highly anticipated visit, François took care to present himself as "friend and brother of all", while the authorities insisted on the spiritual nature of this visit, ensuring that it was not a question of a "political event".
For his 41st international trip since his election in 2013, he will meet refugees - including Ukrainians - poor people and young people on Saturday, and lead an open-air mass on Sunday.
Despite his advanced age and knee pain forcing him to move around with a cane or in a wheelchair, the head of the Catholic Church continues to travel. He is the second pope to visit Hungary, following visits by John Paul II in 1991 and 1996.
28/04/2023 18:01:39 -- Budapest (AFP) © 2023 AFP
