“As a righteously Christian country, Hungary feels a sense of responsibility for all Christian communities being persecuted throughout the world, and is actively attempting to aid them”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó declared on Friday in New York at a UN conference on the subject.

Hungary was the chief organiser of the conference, which was held as part of the ongoing high-level session of the United Nations General Assembly, and the main topics of discussion were the future of Christian communities that are in a difficult position, and opportunities for reconstruction.

Mr. Szijjártó pointed out that some 80 percent of people throughout the world who are killed because of their faith are Christians, but despite this the international community is largely ignoring the fact that Christianity is the world’s most persecuted religion. “This hypocrisy must come to an end!”, he declared.

“Hungary is proud of its over a thousand-year-old Christian history, and even today the fact that the government is Christian democrat is not merely a political statement; the current administration truly does represent such values”, he underlined.

The Minister spoke about the fact that the Hungary Helps Program is providing direct financial assistance to persecuted Christian communities, within the framework of which Hungary has already provided 40 million dollars for the above-mentioned purposes, enabling 50 thousand people to remain at home or to return home at the earliest opportunity.

“The Program has paid for the reconstruction of one thousand homes in Iraq, and also the reconstruction of a church. Hungary has undertaken a role in the reconstruction of hospitals in Syria, and of churches and schools in Lebanon”, the Minister said, citing examples. “Thousands of people from such communities are also taking part in Hungary’s education-facilitating scholarship programme for foreign students”, he added.

The Minister also announced that a high-level conference on the topic will be held in Budapest in November.

The co-organiser of the New York conference, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araújo spoke about the fact that stopping the persecution of Christians is also extremely important to the South American country. He mentioned that he had recently visited Hungary and highly appreciated Hungary’s ties to Christianity, adding that he agrees that action must be taken against religious intolerance and against the fact that the issue is being ignored. “However, it must also be recognised that Christians are also ‘part of the problem’, and of the rivalry and hatred between religions that has existed throughout history”, he added.

In representation of the Vatican, Secretary of State of the Holy See Cardinal Pietro Parolin stressed that this is not just a church issue, but is also about human dignity and freedom. “Protecting religious freedom is one of the greatest challenges of our age”, he highlighted.

“The fact that the word minority is used in a discriminative and negatively discriminating sense must be rejected, and action must be taken against extremism”, he declared. “In the Middle East, we must not only think about the reconstruction of houses and infrastructural facilities, but also about re-weaving social fibres”, the Vatican’s “head of government” said, adding that he had visited the region at the end of last year.

Cardinal Parolin also highlighted the fact that the persecution of Christians is not only occurring in the Middle East, citing the terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka during Easter, and adding that Christian communities also face attacks in “modernised, peaceful countries”.

(MTI)