Pope Francis, who is on a visit to Hungary, celebrated a widely attended open-air mass today and urged Hungarians not to close their doors to immigrants and those who are “foreigners or different from us”, which is contrary to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s anti-immigration policies.

The pope warned for the second time during his visit of the danger posed by the rise of nationalism in Europe, saying that closed doors are painful and contrary to Jesus’ preaching. The populist prime minister, who was present at the service, considers himself a defender of Christian values.

He stated that he would not allow his country to become a “country of immigrants”, as he said had happened in other European countries.

In his sermon, the 86-year-old Francis said that if Hungarians want to follow Jesus, they must avoid “the closed doors of our individualism in the midst of the growing isolation of society, the closed doors of our indifference to the offended and those who suffer, the doors that we close to those who are strangers or different from us, for immigrants or for the poor.”

The Pope believes that immigrants who leave their countries to escape poverty should be welcomed and integrated into society, because they can culturally enrich the host countries and strengthen Europe’s dwindling population.

In office since 2010, Hungary’s prime minister touts his commitment to religion and his desire to defend “Christian culture” to justify his immigrant exclusion policy. His government erected a fence on the Serbian border to keep migrants out.

After the service, the Pope, as was his custom, addressed the assembled crowd and mentioned the war in the Ukraine, which lies on the eastern border of Hungary. He also prayed for the good of both the Ukrainian and Russian people.

“In the hearts of the peoples and their leaders lives the desire for peace, so that the younger generations have a future of hope, not war, a future full of cradles for babies, not graves, a world of brotherhood, not walls.” concluded the pontiff.