Anti-semitism still a threat, Pope warns after Orban meeting

POPE FRANCIS yesterday warned against “the threats of anti-semitism still lurking in Europe” after a meeting in Budapest with Viktor Orbàn, the Right-wing populist Hungarian prime minister.

Mr Orbàn has often been accused of stirring up anti-semitic sentiment with his attacks on George Soros, the Jewish philanthropist and financier.

His long-standing crusade against Mr Soros, whom he sees as part of an international conspiracy to fill Europe with migrants, has turned the billionaire founder of Open Society Foundations – a liberal non-profit grant-making network that supports civil society groups around the world – into a bête noire in Hungary.

Pope Francis, addressing Christian and Jewish leaders after a private meeting with the Hungarian premier, called anti-semitism “a fuse that must not be allowed to burn, and the best way to defuse it is to work together, positively, and to promote fraternity”.

Later, during an open-air Mass, he urged Hungarians to be “open” and “considerate” towards others while staying true to their Christian faith.

The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics avoided any direct criticism of Mr Orbàn, even if the unusually short meeting he held with him was likely to have been an awkward encounter.

The Hungarian leader, who is increasingly at odds with the EU, sees Europe as being under an existential threat from mass Muslim immigration, multiculturalism and “LGBT lunacy”.

Pope Francis, the Argentinian son of Italian immigrants, champions opendoor migration policies, backs further EU integration, says Christianity should enter into a dialogue with Islam and sees similarities between modern-day populists and Hitler.

The Vatican said the “cordial” meeting touched on church and state affairs, the environment and “the protection and promotion of the family”.