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Hungary’s Orban to meet Pope at Vatican

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who clinched a fourth term in office earlier this month, will visit the Vatican on Thursday, he announced on Wednesday.

Pope Francis arrives on April 20, 2022 for the weekly general audience at St. Peter’s square in The Vatican. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who clinched a fourth term in office earlier this month, will visit the Vatican on Thursday, he announced on Wednesday.

“My first official visit after the election leads to the Vatican tomorrow to see Pope Francis,” the nationalist leader wrote on Facebook.

Orban’s ruling Fidesz party won more than two-thirds of all parliamentary seats in general elections on April 3.

This marked another landslide victory despite the opposition uniting to try to unseat Orban who has ruled the EU member with a tight grip since 2010.

Orban’s first visits after his three past election wins were always to Poland, but lately the two allies have taken different stances to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Warsaw supporting Kyiv, while Budapest has taken a more neutral stance.

In September last year, Pope Francis met the anti-migration premier on a whistlestop trip to the central European country in which he called for greater openness, before heading for a four-day tour of Slovakia.

The pope, who closed the International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, has often urged help for the marginalised and those of all religions fleeing war and poverty.

In contrast, Orban, a Calvinist, styles himself as a defender of “Christian Europe” from immigrants.

Pro-Orban media and political figures have called Francis “anti-Christian” for his pro-refugee sentiments.

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