In a message to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Cardinal Béchara Boutros al-Rai, Maronite Catholic Patriarch of Antioch thanked Hungary for its condolences and the financial assistance of EUR 1 million provided for the alleviation of the losses caused by the Beirut explosion, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister’s press chief informed the Hungarian news agency MTI on Thursday.

According to his communication, the Hungarian government successfully transferred the aid provided as part of the Hungary Helps Programme to the Lebanese Maronite Church already on Thursday morning. In his message, Cardinal Rai drew attention to the severe consequences of the Beirut tragedy, the extensive damage that occurred to state and church facilities, and the suffering of Lebanese society and families.

“I’m asking for God’s blessings for Hungary, and I can reassure you that in our prayers we will always be one, in the hope that the country of cedars and saints will rise again as a phoenix, professing the love of God, and the values of peace, justice and freedom,” the Maronite patriarch wrote to the Hungarian Prime Minister.

(MTI/Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister)