ROME – Hungary’s State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians and a leading member of the country’s Christian Democratic People’s Party has lauded Pope Francis’s condemnation of so-called “ideological colonisation” and his call for Europe to return to its founding values.

Speaking to Crux April 8 as part of a whirlwind trip to Rome, Secretary Tristan Azbej (pictured right) referred to the common practice of Western governments including condoms in aid packages for developing nations or making humanitarian support for needy countries contingent on making legal provisions for abortion and gay rights.