Hungary Has Helped More than Two Million Christians in Distress

Hungary has helped more than two million Christians in difficulty through the Hungary Helps program, the Secretary of State responsible for programs to help persecuted Christians, said in a video posted on his Facebook page on Monday, the second day of his official visit to the United States.

Tristan Azbej said that he had gone to the United States to participate in a high-level international conference on religious freedom, to bring the cause of persecuted Christians and the importance of helping them, and to find allies for Hungary Helps in the US, in the civil and ecclesial spheres, but also in the incoming Trump administration.

On the first two days of the visit, he recalled he had the opportunity to meet with leaders of several diaspora organizations of Eastern churches in Chicago and the Midwest region. He met with the Bishop of the Assyrian Church of the East and discussed the current situation of the church and the Hungary Helps program, which supported the construction of a church.

They also talked about how Hungary, together with the US administration, can contribute to the American community through the Hungary Helps program to ensure that Christianity remains in the Middle East and that people who have fled there can return.

Tristan Azbej went on to say that he had met with Chaldean Catholic Christians from Iraq who said that they were very appreciative of what Hungary had done for them. The Hungarian government had rebuilt an entire settlement of Chaldean Catholics on the Nineveh Plateau in Iraq through the Hungary Helps program. For this, they expressed their appreciation and desire to work with Hungarian supporters from here in the United States in the future.

The Secretary of State also said that the Hungarian American Diaspora Organization had asked him to give a toast at the annual Hungarian Ball in Chicago.

I brought a message of the Hungarian people and the Hungarian government to our compatriots in America, that we are all together in the belief that all Hungarians are responsible for all Hungarians, and that they can count on the Hungarian government,”

he emphasized.

He added that through the Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Program, they support Hungarian communities in the diaspora, “but we also ask them to contribute to strengthening Hungary’s ties, especially in light of the revival of Hungarian-American relations.”

Featured photo via Pixabay