ishtartv.com - hungarytoday.hu

2017-02-22

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán welcomed the head of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, for a working lunch in Budapest. Their talks focussed on helping Mideastern Christians stay in their homeland and facilitating their return to the liberated areas, the prime minister’s press chief said. Orbán promised help in building university facilities in Syria and rebuilding destroyed villages in Iraq.

The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén and Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog. The Budapest programme of the patriarch includes giving a speech at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University on Wednesday.

His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II visited His Eminence Cardinal Péter Erdő of Budapest during his official visit to Hungary too. His Eminence expressed the interest of the Catholic Church in Hungary to offer help to the needy and poor in Syria through the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate. His Holiness the Syriac Patriarch, offered a special cross made in Syria to Cardinal Péter Erdő as a token of appreciation and esteem.

via: english.mti.hu; hungarymatters.hu; syriacpatriarchate.org

photos: magyarkurir.hu; 24.hu; Károly Árvai / MTI