The spiritual priorities of Pope Francis will be on display during a trip this week to Hungary, where the populist government will seek to downplay its diverging views on matters like immigration and minority rights while focusing instead on points where it aligns with the pontiff.
Francis will meet with children with disabilities, refugees and those living in poverty on the three-day trip that begins Friday. He will also have an audience with Hungary’s president and its nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban.The visit will be a political boon for Orban, whose contentious stances on migration, the war in Ukraine and LGBTQ+ rights stand in stark contrast with Francis’ views of inclusion and acceptance for the marginalised and support for Ukraine during Russia’s war.
Yet the cardinal of Hungary’s Roman Catholic Church, Peter Erdo, as well as other members of the Catholic community, expect the pope’s visit to be a celebration of Christian unity, and that differences of opinion will not play a central role.
“When there is a papal Mass to which bishops and priests from different countries come in large numbers, there is a feeling that the whole church is present there,” Erdo said in an interview with The Associated Press.”