Hungary restores Christian churches in the Middle East
Hungary is working together with the Lebanese to preserve Christian cultural heritage, so it is no coincidence that Pope Leo XIV’s first foreign trip will be to Lebanon, Tristan Azbej, head of the foreign ministry’s programme to help persecuted Christians said on Tuesday. With the help of Hungarian taxpayers’ money, Lebanese churches were restored with Hungarian assistance.
Hungary restores churches in Lebanon
Azbej, the state secretary for programmes helping persecuted Christians, told MTI at the opening of an exhibition in Rome on Tuesday evening showcasing Lebanese churches restored with Hungarian assistance that supporting Christians in the Middle East was not only a government programme for Hungary, but also a national mission.
He added that Lebanon plays a key role in the region, among other things because of the presence of a Christian community that still lives in the country in large numbers.
New jobs, tourism, curbing emigration
The state secretary opened the exhibition entitled Hope from the Ruins at the Hungarian Academy in Rome, presenting photographs of 63 historic, mostly medieval Lebanese churches, renovated through the Hungary Helps programme since 2018.
Péter Kovács, CEO of Hungary Helps, told MTI that the restoration of the churches had provided jobs, and now they are also tourist destinations, so the Hungarian project is also helping to curb emigration from Lebanon.
As for support for other Middle Eastern countries, Kovacs added that the situation in Syria remains unstable, and that the Holy Land, Gaza, and the West Bank are also in dire need of humanitarian aid.
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