The Diocese of Szeged-Csanádi has been a leader in demonstrating charity towards migrants for years. He said however that the current situation at Hungary’s southern borders was “not primarily a refugee issue”, but agreed with Pope Francis that working together was the best way to tackle the problem.

This is really mass migration supported by organised crime groups that exploit people to the fullest, he said. It can lead to cultural invasion at the very least, the bishop said. He said that he had briefed Pope Francis about the situation and of the dangers concerning the migration wave experienced in Szeged and its surroundings.

The diocese runs support programmes including a 15 million forint (EUR 47,700) scholarship scheme for poor students of India and Africa, among them Muslims, as well as a donation of more than 30 million forints for a church in India.

Last year it had offered to take in 1,000 Christian refugees from Syria, but the targeted group had never managed to reach the Schengen border, he said, adding that the offer was still open to asylumseekers who arrive legally and who register with the authorities, and choose to stay permanently in Hungary.

The diocese has operated a Christian Roma College for years, “so it would be hard to label us racists” unless it was with consciously malicious intent, he said.

Another danger of the current mass migration is that as a result of the “accelerated, aggressive cultural invasion, the social identities of some European countries are lost or changed,” he said. European politicians who have neglected or rejected Christian roots, on grounds that equal distance must be kept from all human values, are really building “a dictatorship of no values”, the bishop said.

Now these politicians are looking at current events helplessly. “But others -- more and more people all around Europe -- including in Hungary, support a selfpreserving strategy independent of blind ideologies and party politics, which is built on directness, solidarity, Christianity, reason and a need for sacrifices.

This strategy is best represented by the Hungarian prime minister,” he said. On Monday the Washington Post published remarks by Kiss-Rigó, saying Pope Francis was wrong about the refugee problem, and did not know the situation in Hungary.

“They’re not refugees. This is an invasion, (...) They come here with cries of ‘Allahu Akbar.’ They want to take over.”, the paper quoted Kiss-Rigó as saying. Kiss-Rigó later told daily Népszabadság that the Washington Post had quoted him out of context and that he agreed with the Pope’s spiritual guidance regarding refugees.

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