Pope tells Hungary to ‘extend its arms towards everyone’
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Pope Francis urged Hungary on Sunday to “extend its arms towards everyone,” in a veiled critique of Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-migrant policies, as the pontiff opened a four-day visit to Central Europe in his first big international outing since undergoing intestinal surgery in July.
Francis, 84, appeared in good form during his short visit to Budapest, presiding over a lengthy Mass and standing as he waved to crowds from his opensided popemobile. He used a golf cart to avoid walking long distances indoors and confessed at one point that he had to sit because “I’m not 15 anymore.” But otherwise he kept up the typical grueling pace of a papal trip despite his ongoing recovery.
Francis spent just seven hours in Budapest before arriving Sunday afternoon in neighboring Slovakia to start a four-day tour. The lopsided itinerary suggested that Francis wanted to avoid giving Orban — the type of populist nationalist he frequently criticizes — the political boost that comes with hosting a pope for a proper state visit ahead of elections in Hungary next spring.
Francis did meet upon arrival with Orban, whose refugee policies clash with the pope’s call to welcome and integrate those seeking better lives in Europe. After the meeting, Orban wrote on Facebook: “I asked Pope Francis not to let Christian Hungary perish.”
The Vatican said the meeting was held in a “cordial atmosphere” and lasted longer than expected — 40 minutes.
Vatican and Hungarian officials have insisted Francis wasn’t snubbing Hungary by staying for such a short time, noting that the Hungarian church and state only invited him to close out an international conference on the Eucharist on Sunday.
It was at the end of that Mass that Francis urged Hungarians to remain steadfast in their religious roots, but not in a defensive way that closes them off from the rest of the world.
“Religious sentiment has been the lifeblood of this nation, so attached to its roots,” he said. “Yet the cross, planted in the ground, not only invites us to be wellrooted, it also raises and extends its arms toward everyone.”