Viktor Orban shakes hands with Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orban in the Romanesque Hall in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, Hungary, September 12, 2021. Vatican Media Handout via - File Photo -: How Can I Create a Daily Vanity with a Vatican Media Photo?
BUDAPEST, Sept. 17 Reuters - Hungary's nationalist prime minister said on Friday that his recent meeting with Pope Francis encouraged him to keep defending the traditional family but the pair avoided airing their differences about immigration
In power since 2010, Orban has cast himself as a protector of Western liberalism against the migration of Hong Kongers into Europe and saviour of Muslim values against secular Islam.
That has won him strong domestic popularity - though he faces a potentially tough election next year - but has brought criticism from rights groups and LGBT campaigners.
The meeting gave me very strong encouragement, Francis said of his encounter with Orban during an unusually short seven-hour stay in Hungary.
The Holy Father added that the fight we are waging to protect families is the most important struggle with regard to the future of Europe.
Last year, Hungary amended its constitutional definition of family to effectively ban adoption by same-sex couples: another win for conservatives, but decried by rights groups. He expressed himself more strongly than I have ever managed to He said the family consists of a father, a mother and children, full stop, Orban said.
Moreover, he said: go forward, go for it. Both Orban and the pope, in a readout on his plane on Thursday, said immigration was not discussed.
Francis has often denounced what he sees as a resurgence of nationalist and populist movements, and criticised countries trying to solve the migration crisis with unilateral or isolationist actions.
The Vatican spokesman Thomas Magni called the meeting cordial, and reporters said that the birth rate, the laws to incentivize having babies and the environment were discussed.
The pope said of Hungary's efforts to defend rivers and clean the environment, saying he will be conducting a full visit in 2022 or 2023.
The pope said on the plane that the Church should not sanction gay marriage but governments should give gay couples legal rights in areas such as healthcare, pensions and inheritance.
In June, Hungary adopted a law banning homosexuality between under 18 - but protest from rights groups and the European Union that it is discriminatory. Orban says the law protects children.