Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that his recent meeting with Pope Francis encouraged him to keep defending the traditional family.
“The meeting gave me very strong encouragement,” Orban said of his encounter with Francis in Hungary.
“The Holy Father made it clear that the fight we are waging to protect families is the most important struggle with regard to the future of Europe,” he added on public radio.
The Hungarian Government has a range of measures aimed at helping couples to have children and arrest the low birth rate.
Orban cited the Pope as telling him during their 40-minute meeting that there should be no debate or argument over the traditional family unit of mother, father and child.
“He expressed himself more strongly than I have ever managed to … (He said) the family consists of a father, a mother and children, full stop,” Orban said.
“Moreover, he said: go ahead, go for it. And go for it we will.”
The Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni called the meeting cordial, and Francis told reporters that the birth rate, laws to incentivise having babies, and the environment were discussed.
Pope Francis has also implicitly criticised the curbs Hungary places on immigration.
