The Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Fra’ Andrew Bertie, paid an official visit to Hungary from 17 to 19 May.

The President of the Republic of Hungary, Ferenc Madl, received the Grand Master and the Order’s delegation in Sandor Palace in Budapest, with an official dinner attended by church representatives, heads of diplomatic missions and by politicians, government authorities and civil society representatives. The President expressed his particular appreciation for the welfare works that the Order has been coordinating for some years in Hungary.

On 18 May, the Order’s delegation, after having met Cardinal Peter Erdo in the morning, was received by the Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Mandur, and by the Prime Minister, Peter Medgyessy.

On the last day, the Grand Master and the Order’s delegation paid a visit to Msgr. Imre Kozma, in charge of the Order’s Hospitaller Service. For some years Msgr. Kozma has been organising aid activities for street children and managing a shelter for the homeless and for Hungarian nationals living in the countries bordering Hungary, and in particular in Transylvania.

The Order’s Hospitaller Service now has an extensive assistance network with over two thousand collaborators and more than five thousand permanent and occasional volunteers. Besides the medical programmes and support for the elderly, the service also provided valuable assistance during the flooding of the Tisza river in 1999 and to the refugees arriving in Hungary after the war in ex-Yugoslavia.

The Order’s delegation included Jacques de Liedekerke, Grand Chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, Grand Hospitaller, Alessandro Quaroni, Secretary General for Foreign Affairs, and Paolo Francesco Boncompagni-Ludovisi, Master of Ceremonies. The delegation was received by the President of the Order’s Hungarian Association, Gyorgy O’Svath, and by the Order’s Ambassador to Hungary, Alexander Mensdorff Pouilly.