WHEN Pope Francis made a visit to so-called Catholic Hungary a few years back, it was short. He was made to feel unwelcome because he stood for the rights and dignity of every migrant and refugee that seeks refuge, a welcome and acceptance, understanding, shelter, care and help.
But Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the Hungarian officials told Pope Francis they considered refugees and migrants fleeing persecution and hunger as a Mongol invasion. They gave Francis a copy of a 13th-century letter from Hungarian King Bela IV to Pope Innocent IV.
The letter asked the then-pope for help in resisting the Mongol invasion of Hungary and Europe.
Orban considers himself the defender of Christian values in Hungary and Europe. This is monumental hypocrisy. Besides, Orban is an autocratic right-wing ruler that has curbed free expression and the media.
According to a CNN report: “Balazs Orban, Deputy Minister for the Prime Minister’s Office, described the gift on his Facebook page, saying, ‘there are many similarities between the situation at that time and today…we should learn from history.’ Pope Francis said, ‘My wish is that you be…grounded and open, rooted and considerate’ for refugees.
“The government of Catholic Poland is not very welcoming either especially since asylum-seekers coming from Belarus are being turned back. According to data made public by the Polish Interior Ministry, between Aug. 1 and 18, 2021 some 2,100 migrants tried to enter Poland via Belarus, out of whom 1,342 were “prevented from entering.”
Among the most non-welcoming countries are those with Orthodox Christian traditions: North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Catholic Hungary. They have closed their borders and slammed shut the door in the faces of thousands of desperate, homeless migrants and refugees.
The refugees endure hardships and flee poverty, war, violence, hunger and want, just like the parents of Jesus of Nazareth did during their flight into Egypt pursued by the killers sent by King Herod.
The heart of the message of Jesus of Nazareth is to welcome the stranger, to consider all people of equal value, with equal rights and Children of God and to help and assist them like the Good Samaritan helped the dying man on the side of the road. Whereas in that story, the priest and politician walked past, ignoring the plight of the man that was set upon by gangs and left to die.
The story tells who indeed the true neighbor is. It is the person who helps the needy and shows love as did the Good Samaritan. The Samaritan himself was an outcast in the Jewish state at that time. (To be continued)/PN
