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Tények (Facts): Pope Francis’s funeral service was both a farewell and an uplifting event, providing hope. Viktor Orbán spoke about this in an exclusive interview with our colleague Gergely Váczi after the Pope’s funeral. The Prime Minister said that with the death of the Holy Father, Hungary has lost a true friend, who – like Hungary – always stood up for peace.
“The Holy Father was also a personal friend of mine. I can say that he was my confederate, encourager and motivator in all peace initiatives – and so I owe him a great deal. He also gave me support. I have lost a friend, and Hungary has lost a friend, because the Holy Father loved us.”
These were the words which the Prime Minister used when remembering Pope Francis in a special interview with our staff after the Holy Father’s funeral. Mr. Orbán said that the Pope, like Hungary, had always stood for peace, and the day of his funeral sent a message of peace to the world.
“The element of his spiritual and intellectual legacy and life’s work that surrounds us most is that relating to peace. This is why today everything is about peace, the end of war, peace. Today’s message was, ‘Be brave and make peace. Be brave to love one another. Be brave not to hate one another and make peace at last.’”
The Prime Minister said that ever more people understand the voice of peace, and he hopes that the wars in the world will end as soon as possible. But the next pope will not have an easy job, because today the Christian Church is the most persecuted in the world.
“So today Christians are persecuted in more places around the world than any other religion. Christians form the majority of those who die for their faith. Obviously this cannot continue, and we must defend ourselves, we must defend one another. For this we need a strong sense of belonging – so we need a pope to unite us, to bring our disputes back to a place of calm, and to strengthen our community.”
Viktor Orbán also commented on what he thinks of [Cardinal] Péter Erdő’s chances in the papal election. The Prime Minister did not want to speculate, but said that the Hungarian nation owes a lot to the Archbishop of Esztergom, who he said is an outstanding intellectual.
