VIDEO - Pope Francis Meets with Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at the Vatican and Receives a Historic Gift!

Pope Francis received Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on December 4th at the Vatican  in the Apostolic Palace. They discussed the war in Ukraine, Hungary’s presidency of the EU Council, and support for young people.
The meeting lasted 35 minutes and concluded with the customary exchange of gifts, including an 18th-century map of the Holy Land.

The prime minister was accompanied by his wife, Anikó Lévai, and Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See, Eduard Habsburg-Lothringen, Orbán met first with the Pope before he departed for the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
Later, Orbán met with Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Monsignor Mirosław Wachowski, Under-Secretary for Relations with States.
The Holy See Press Office released that the talks highlighted “the solid and fruitful bilateral relations” between Hungary and the Vatican, with special recognition given to the Catholic Church’s contributions to the development and well-being of Hungarian society.
One notable focus of the discussions was the war in Ukraine, with attention given to its humanitarian consequences and efforts to promote peace. Other topics of mutual interest included Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union, the central role of the family, and the protection of younger generations.
Gift Exchange
In their traditional exchange of gifts, Pope Francis presented Orbán with a terracotta artwork titled Tenderness and Love, along with copies of his papal writings, the 2024 Message for Peace, and the book Statio Orbis, documenting that prayer event, which took place in March 27, 2020. In return, Orbán gifted the Pope a copy of The Life of Jesus Christ by Dominican friar Henri Didon, published in 1896, as well as an antique map of the Holy Land dating back to the 1700s.