Rétvári said more Christians were being persecuted today throughout the world than during the reign of Emperor Nero, adding that four-fifths of the religiously persecuted today are Christians.

Religious leaders in the Middle East have asked western democracies to help persecuted Christians in that region by providing humanitarian aid rather than by taking them in, Rétvári said. He noted that Hungary’s parliament had passed a resolution condemning the persecution of Christians and the activities of the Islamic State terrorist group.

The resolution also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to qualify the persecution of Christians in the Middle East as genocide. Hungary is also preparing to launch a travelling exhibition throughout Europe on the persecution of Christians, he added.

Rétvári called on the participants of the conference to adopt an action plan to aid persecuted Christians. Tamás Török, head of the human resources ministry’s deputy state secretariat for providing help to persecuted Christians, said Christian cultures were being obliterated in the Middle East and the number of religiously motivated terrorist attacks was also growing on the European Union’s territory.

The aim of setting up the secretariat was to coordinate the government’s measures aimed at fighting the persecution of Christians and to cooperate with the foreign ministry, churches, civil groups, the UN, the ICC and the European Parliament in this area, he said.

Török said Europe right now was not unified in fighting the persecution of Christians, which was another reason why Hungary had to set up a deputy state secretariat focused on this issue.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Marjai János