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View all search resultsHungary's Orban and the pope: diverging views of Christianity
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A
s Pope Francis gears up to visit Hungary for the second time in less than two years on Friday, he is being awaited by the country's Catholics and its nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Yet, the self-styled "defender of Christian Europe" has frequently diverged from the pope's messages – on topics from migration to LGBTQ rights – in a bid to reintroduce religion in the largely secular nation while trumpeting his political agenda.
"Such indoctrination has little to do with true Christianity," theology professor Rita Perintfalvi of the Austrian University of Graz told AFP.
Orban has been eager to revive what he calls the "Christian civilization" suppressed during the four-decade communist era.
Soon after coming to power in 2010, the nationalist premier oversaw a new constitution laden with references to God, Christianity and traditional family values, with later amendments stating that marriage is only possible between a man and a woman.
But unlike neighboring Slovakia and nearby Poland, Hungary remains predominantly secular.
'Indoctrination'
