His Holiness Pope Tawadros II and the church delegation accompanying him visited this evening the House of the Hungarian Parliament.

His Holiness was accompanied during the visit by Mr. Chamyen Gault, Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary.
His Holiness the Pope toured the corridors of the historical headquarters of the legislative authority, as it contains many historical archaeology of Hungary, that its construction dates back to 1904. The Parliament building was built on thousands of wooden columns to avoid damage to the groundwater in the place.
During the tour, H.H. learned about the meanings and history of the artistic and historical artifacts that the Parliament contains.
In the center of the Parliament is a glass box containing the crown of King Stephen I, the founder of the state of Hungary around the year 1000 AD, and he is called the Saint of Hungary, and the king who made the revival of Hungary, and preserved the Christian faith, not only in Hungary, but in all of Europe.
Inside the Parliament, programs are held for young people to get trained for political life, and they sit in a room similar to the main room of representatives.

After the tour of His Holiness , which lasted a full hour, a dinner was held in honor of His Holiness, during which Mr. Chamiene Gault gave a speech, followed by a speech by His Holiness.
At the end of the visit, His Holiness presented some souvenirs to the Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister, who in turn presented a souvenir to His Holiness.

The speech of Mr. Shamyin Gault, Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary, during the gala dinner held in the Hungarian Parliament in honor of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II:

Your Holiness, Your Graces the Bishops
On this occasion, I am pleased to greet you and welcome your visit to Hungary.
We are commemorating the visit of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III before you, and he has a special love in the hearts of Hungarians, and His Holiness participated in a mass like the one in which your Holiness will participate in tomorrow.
A short time ago, His Holiness Pope Francis, Pope of Rome, was visiting Hungary, and soon the Patriarch of Constantinople will come to Hungary, and on the level of Egyptian-Hungarian relations.
After a while, we are waiting for the Sheikh of Al-Azhar to come to Hungary. I thank the Egyptian ambassador for the success of this visit, which indicates the quality and strength of the Egyptian-Hungarian relations, not only in the political field, but also in the spiritual field.
I do not forget His Excellency President El Sisi’s visit to Hungary, and he is a politician who works a lot for his country.
We recognize that religions must coexist with each other.
Once again, allow me to thank Your Holiness for this visit and for accepting the invitation of the Hungarian government, and I pray to God to keep you for the benefit of Egypt and Hungary.

Speech of His Holiness Pope Tawadros II at the gala dinner held in his honor this evening in the Hungarian Parliament:

“I am very happy with this visit, and speaking on behalf of myself and the Coptic delegation, when I received the invitation I was very happy. I was supposed to come before but the Covid virus disrupted this, and it seems that God wanted this to be the timing of the visit.
I am happy with the relationship between Egypt and Hungary.
I remember, while I was studying at the university in Alexandria, I used to take a train called Magry, and our we refer to “Magyry” in Egypt as synonymous with the word “Quick”.
I also read about Hungary and learned that the word greenhouse is taken from the Hungarian language and means “warm room”, which is the system that contributed to the increase in agricultural production in Egypt.

We came from Egypt to participate in the celebration of Saint Stephen tomorrow, which is a celebration of love, holiness and history, this celebration in Hungary, but on a personal level, celebrating the first day I entered the monastery 37 years ago, I entered the Monastery of St. Bishoy, which is one of the largest monasteries in Egypt.
I believe that spiritual relationships can be measured from soft power. His Excellency President El-Sisi started building a new administrative capital seven years ago, starting with building a church and a mosque, before building any other buildings. He started with the church and the mosque, and thus he started the spiritual beginning.
I repeat my thanks and love for this visit and for the warm and happy welcome to all the attendees, and I always pray that God will perpetuate love for us, for a person without love is not a human being.

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