Pope meets with Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán

By Vatican News

Pope Francis met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán this morning, December 4, in the Apostolic Palace.

The encounter lasted 35 minutes and concluded with the customary exchange of gifts, including an 18th-century map of the Holy Land. 

Discussions at the Secretariat of State

Accompanied by his wife, Anikó Lévai, and Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, Orbán met first with the Pope before he departed for the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Later, Orbán met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Monsignor Mirosław Wachowski, Under-Secretary for Relations with States.

According to the Holy See Press Office, the talks highlighted “the solid and fruitful bilateral relations” between Hungary and the Vatican, with special recognition given to the Catholic Church’s contributions to the development and well-being of Hungarian society.

A key focus of the discussions was the war in Ukraine, with attention given to its humanitarian consequences and efforts to promote peace. Other topics of mutual interest included Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, the central role of the family, and the protection of younger generations.

The exchange of gifts

In their traditional exchange of gifts, Pope Francis presented Orbán with a terracotta artwork titled Tenderness and Love, along with copies of his papal writings, the 2024 Message for Peace, and the book Statio Orbis, documenting that prayer event, which took place in March 27, 2020. In return, Orbán gifted the Pope a copy of The Life of Jesus Christ by Dominican friar Henri Didon, published in 1896, as well as an antique map of the Holy Land dating back to the 1700s.