Hungary Opens Charity Shop For Persecuted Christians
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungary has opened a charity shop selling products made by Christian refugees in Jordan as part of the Hungarian government’s efforts to prevent migration towards Europe.
Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s state secretary for persecuted Christians, said the shop in Budapest’s Piarist Secondary School helped those facing hardship for their faith in Christ.
Speaking at the opening, he stressed that the Catholic Charity of Jordan and his secretariat’s “Hungary Helps” program provided Christians fleeing Iraq training and work in Jordan.
Those visiting the shop selling handmade art and other religious products “not only help Christian communities in the Middle East survive,” Azbej added in a statement. Patrons also “express their solidarity with persecuted Christians, too,” he said.
Critics say right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán wants to prevent non-European migrants fleeing war, persecution, and poverty from entering the country.
Orbán has denied wrongdoing saying his country remains open for genuine refugees adding that nearly half a million people fled to Hungary from neighboring war-torn Ukraine.
Azbej suggested that trying to keep Christians in areas such as the Middle East is “also about our self-identity and survival,” referring to Hungary’s and Europe’s Christian roots.
“If Christians disappear from the Holy Land, the cradle of Christianity, it will mean the end of Christian civilization,” the state secretary claimed.
László Böröcz, a Budapest legislator of the ruling Fidesz party, said it was the government’s duty, “arising from its philosophy,” to provide support to persecuted Christians. He said Hungary wanted to “set an example to the world” by supporting persecuted Christians.
Böröcz complained that “there is much less discussion about persecuted Christians in the world than there should be.” More than 360 million Christians “face high to extreme levels of persecution and discrimination” for their faith, according to advocacy group Open Doors.
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