Pope Francis Meets Political Leaders of Hungary

Pope Francis today met with the President of the Republic of Hungary, János Áder, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The private meeting, located in the Romanesque room of the Museum of Fine Arts in the capital, was also attended by the Secretary of State and the Secretary for Relations with States.

The meeting with the President, the Prime Minister, and the Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary took place according to the program, in a cordial atmosphere and ended at 9:25 am.

Among the various topics discussed were the role of the Church in the Country, the commitment to the protection of the environment, the protection and promotion of the family.

The Pope presented the President with a gift, a mosaic depicting the “Papal blessing in Saint Peter’s Square” based on an oil painting by Ippolito Caffi, dating from around the mid- 1800s  and now preserved in the Museum of Rome. It shows Saint Peter’s Square flooded with morning light, with many people awaiting the Papal Blessing from the central Loggia of the Basilica, protected by a large white canvas.

Ippolito Caffi (Belluno, 1809 — Lissa 1866) was among the greatest and most original of the “vedutisti” of the 1800s in Italy.

The mosaic panel (35 x 60 cm) was produced by the skilled artisans of the Vatican Mosaic Studio from January to April 2020. Polychrome enamels were used, applied with oily stucco on a metal base. The stucco has the same formula as that used in past centuries to apply the mosaics in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

János Áder, born May 9, 1959, has been President of Hungary since 10 May 2012. Previously he served as the speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary from 1998 to 2002 and Deputy Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety from January to May 2012.

Viktor Mihály Orbán was born May 31, 1963, and has served as Prime Minister of Hungary since 2010, previously holding the office from 1998 to 2002. He has presided over Fidesz, a national conservative political party, since 1993, with a brief break between 2000 and 2003.