Conference of Middle Eastern Christian church leaders starts in Budapest

Hungary is proving through its actions that a European Christian state can assume responsibility for all of the world’s Christian communities, the foreign minister said in Budapest on Tuesday.

The aiding of Middle Eastern Christian communities is set to be a key topic during Wednesday’s talks between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Péter Szijjártó said at the opening of a conference of Middle Eastern Christian church leaders organised ahead of the high-level Hungarian-Russian summit.

The church leaders will also be meeting with Orbán and Putin, he said, adding that their talks could open the door to new projects in the Middle East.

The minister said there was a “consensus” in international political discourse that “the persecution of Christians is the last acceptable form of discrimination”. Szijjarto slammed what he called the international community’s refusal to address the issue of Christian persecution as “extreme hypocrisy”. He said the international community had a duty to take action for the protection of Christian communities.

Szijjártó said Christianity was the most persecuted religion in the world, with an average of 11 Christians killed every day for their faith.

Szijjártó noted that under the government’s Hungary Helps humanitarian aid programme, Hungary has so far spent 40 million dollars on rebuilding homes, churches and schools in the Middle East with a view to enabling Christians to remain in their homeland. Hungary has so far been able to help some 50,000 people through this scheme, the minister said, adding that even more people could be helped if the international community followed Hungary’s example.

He said