Pope Francis warns of rising nationalism in Europe as he begins Hungary trip

The pontiff plans to meet with some of the 35,000 Ukrainian refugees in Hungary during his three-day visit

Pope Francis arrives at St Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest (Reuters)

Pope Francis has warned of the dangers of rising nationalism in Europe, and told the Hungarian government that accepting migrants, as the rest of the continent does, would be a true sign of Christianity.

At the start of a three-day trip to Hungary, the pontiff made a hard-hitting speech to government leaders including the prime minister, Viktor Orban, who has had a series of run-ins with the European Union. Francis urged a rejection of “self-referential forms of populism” and strictly nationalist interests.

The Pope also called for a return to the “European soul” envisioned by those who had laid the groundwork for modern Europe after the Second World War, saying nations had to “look beyond national boundaries”.

Speaking on a day on which Russia hit Ukraine with the first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months, Francis made another appeal for an end to the war there, calling for “creative efforts for peace” to drown out the “soloists of war”.

Hungarian officials said the Pope’s visit was designed primarily to let him minister to the country’s Catholic community. But with the war in neighbouring Ukraine, and Mr Orban butting heads with other EU nations over rule-of-law issues and LGBT+ rights, the pontiff’s words and deeds in the heart of Europe carried strong political undertones.

The visit is the 86-year-old Pope’s first trip since he was admitted to hospital for bronchitis in March. Looking cheerful, Francis, who has a knee ailment, used a cane to walk past dignitaries and children in national dress who had gathered to welcome him at the airport. On other recent visits, he has used a wheelchair. Asked about his health by reporters who joined him on the flight from Rome, the Pope joked, saying “I’m still alive” and “Stubborn weeds never die.”

Pope Francis meets with Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, and the country’s president, Katalin Novak (Vatican Media via Reuters)

Francis is keeping his promise to make an official visit to Hungary, after a stop-off for only seven hours to close a Church congress in Budapest on his way to Slovakia in 2021 left many feeling slighted.

The views of Mr Orban, 59, differ from those of the Pope on how to handle migration from the Middle East and Africa to Europe. Francis believes that migrants fleeing poverty should be welcomed. Mr Orban, whose government built a steel fence on the border with Serbia to keep these people out, has refused to let Hungary be transformed into an “immigrant country” like he says others in Europe have become. He asked the Pope in 2021 “not to let Christian Hungary perish”.

In his speech in the presidential palace overlooking the River Danube, following separate private meetings with Hungary’s president, Katalin Novak, and Mr Orban, Francis quoted St Stephen, the 11th-century founder of Christian Hungary.

“Those who profess themselves Christian, in the company of the witnesses of faith, are called to bear witness to and to join forces with everyone in cultivating a humanism inspired by the gospel and moving along two fundamental tracks: acknowledging ourselves to be beloved children of the father, and loving one another as brothers and sisters,” Francis said.

“In this regard, St Stephen bequeathed to his son extraordinary words of fraternity when he told him that those who arrive with different languages and customs ‘adorn the country’,” Francis continued, quoting the saint’s command to “welcome strangers with benevolence and to hold them in esteem”.

In her address to the Pope before he spoke, Ms Novak praised him as a man of peace and urged him to do everything he could to stop the war in Ukraine, on Hungary’s eastern border. Francis has called for peace in Ukraine in nearly every public appearance since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and has said he wants to go to Kyiv and Moscow in a single peace mission.

Mr Orban has said that Hungary and the Vatican are the only two European states that can be described as “pro-peace”.

Hungary supports a sovereign Ukraine, but still has strong economic ties to Russia. Mr Orban’s government has refused to send weapons to Ukraine. While the Pope has often called for a general ban on arms trafficking and a reduction in weapons manufacturing, he has also said that sending arms to Ukraine is morally acceptable if they are used for self-defence.

Pope Francis plans to meet over the weekend with some of the 35,000 Ukrainian refugees who remain in Hungary. Nearly 2.5 million refugees entered the country during the initial months following Russia’s invasion.

Reuters