The President of the Republic, Katalin Novák, called Pope Francis' visit to Hungary an honor for all Hungarians. In an interview published on Thursday in the German Catholic weekly newspaper Die Tagespost, she also emphasized that the church and its head bring a message of peace, encouragement and hope in the shadow of the war in Ukraine.
The head of state recalled that the head of the Catholic Church last made an official pastoral visit to Hungary almost 30 years ago. At the same time, according to him, he made a great impression on Pope Francis when he visited Budapest in 2021 on the occasion of the World Eucharistic Congress, and this is probably the main reason why he decided to come back and thus assure us of his support.
"The visit of Pope Francis is first of all an honor, not only for Catholics, but for all Hungarians. The church and its head bring encouragement, hope and a message of peace"
Katalin Novák stressed.
He pointed out: we have been living in the direct shadow of war for more than a year, but at the same time, the desire of every nation is the hope of a peaceful, stable and safe world. This is the message we need, he added.
He emphasized: Pope Francis can play a key role in bringing about peace negotiations in the war in Ukraine. "He can speak directly to both parties involved in the conflict and their previous partners, he is the one who can build bridges and break through walls. That's why his person is so important," he said.
Katalin Novák confirmed: we condemn the Russian aggression and we stand by the sovereign Ukraine, while we want peace. The head of state assessed as a positive development that more and more leading politicians recognize the urgent need for peace negotiations.
"We will not send our husbands and sons to the battlefield in Ukraine. No one can want that. We don't want more innocent people to lose their lives in this war."
he declared.
He drew attention to the fact that Pope Francis has already shown himself ready to visit both Moscow and Kiev. Katalin Novák considers it wise that the Pope wants to talk to both sides and expressed her hope that this will happen as soon as possible.
At the same time, he encouraged everyone to:
don't underestimate the power of prayer. "We are in God's hands. We Hungarians will pray for peace together with the Holy Father. As a Christian, I believe that God can give us the strength to end this conflict”.
The President of the Republic also touched on the fact that since the outbreak of the war, Hungary has accepted one and a half million Ukrainian refugees, which is a huge number compared to the country's population of less than 10 million. This is the biggest humanitarian action in the history of Hungary - assessed Katalin Novák, adding that she is very proud of the Hungarians for coming together for the Ukrainian refugees and continuing to do so.
The head of state also spoke about: the Hungarians are the last Mohicans in the preservation of the Christian heritage in Europe. He sees the reason for this in the fact that even though people's attitudes are changing in Hungary, there is a strong consensus in society regarding such enduring values as, for example, what concerns male and female identity. We respect this as state leaders, he said.
"Our state founder King Saint István chose Christianity for us Hungarians more than a thousand years ago. This is our past, our present and our future, which we are not ready to give up".
He also highlighted that: Hungary and the Holy See stand together at the international level for traditional Christian values, for the family, for the protection of life, and for persecuted Christians. We follow the same path and can count on each other, he added.
Katalin Novák said in relation to the lawsuit initiated by the European Commission regarding the Hungarian child protection law: Hungary will not give up the protection of children and the right of parents to make free decisions about their children's upbringing, regardless of how the court proceedings end.
He emphasized that Hungary wants to protect children from losing certain points in their lives. Raising children is basically the parents' right, he said. The head of state called it a dangerous trend that there are those who believe that they know what children need better than parents.
Source: MTI
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