Hungarian News

Orbán’s Christian Narrative – and the Reality of a Priest

• March 22, 2022
• István
• 10 Comments

Warning: In Hungary minors mustn’t read this! 18 + content about Orbán and a priest!

In 2014 Orbán invented the illiberal state, as if democracy could be unfree. An expression used for whitewashing dictatorships before it became for Orbán the key expression for his autocrat rule. An entire election period Hungary’s regime media touted out loud how great it would be to be unfree. Orbán’s former friends within the European Peoples Party EPP were the thriving power that Orbán to some extent dropped the expression illiberal and exchanged it with Christian Democracy, well knowing that several EPP members use this expression. Regarding the content Orbán did not temper, but escalated his hate against everybody not lining up with his ideology and his unchallenged rule. Although I am no expert of Christianity I see clear differences between the unrestrained hate and that believe, as well as the obvious ones between an unfree state and democracy.

We already have seen how Orbán treats his former priest Gábor Iványi, a man who stays loyal to his principles instead of to Orbán. His church was taken away the legal status of a church through a law declared invalid later, but despite all judgements it is legally still just an association. Now Orbán threatens Iványi with imprisonment for tax fraud, while not releasing the funds that are owed by the tax office based on the earlier judgements.

This time it is a catholic priest who the regime is fighting against. Catholics belong to a so-called historic church, the highest possible rank Orbán’s church law knows. We all might remember that the pope is not really considered as friend by Orbán, although he likes pictures when he is shaking hands with the pope for the catholic part of his voters. Last chance Orbán was in Rome he did not see the pope and we still don’t know whether it were the words the pope had about his regime or whether he was not interested in sharing the pope with others in one papal audience. He has chosen another fascist party leader over the pope. Orbán is much happier with the local bishops in Hungary, they are generally pushing his rule and ideology, no matter what their bible or their boss in the Vatican might say. These bishops have a price, which is paid with generous payment from our taxes. A with 40 years still relative young priest decided to bring his believe to those who are more often on internet than in church, András Hodász. Bad for him not Orbán’s believe. The project Papifrankó (translatable as Father Free) got quite some followers, although not overwhelming many, since we mustn’t forget that in Hungary the vast majority is not at all interested in religion. Only a bit more than 40 % say that they believe in something and just a fraction of those participate in any religious community. Hodász much more respected the teaching from Rome than orders from the PM office in the Várszínház. This all resulted in Hodász getting much more attention this way than his colleagues in other parishes.

The “crime” of Hodász was to point to the real problems of the Hungarian society, the very much-attacked video dates from January 17th, 2022. He talked about the “gay propaganda” as well. This was already clear in the very beginning, where he announces that minors legally mustn’t watch this video. Indeed the content of this video is banned for minors in Hungary. He indeed made fun of the devilish gay propaganda arriving from the West just to get serious about the question whether a gay lobby exists or not, whether it is dangerous or not. And that according to his opinion there are so much more important dangers for the youth than this. Young people very often are depressive, already the expectations they are confronted with at school are driving them to their limits, in addition the effects from being isolated in corona times add to them problems that they don’t live, but just function. Loneliness, depression and anxiety. A burned out, depressed generation without a life he talked about. There is no longer a possibility of having a social life, to develop their social competence, since school is demanding all their time. Life is more, he said, than educating once heavily earning managers. Children should be happy about because they exist, Hodász explained with a story from the bible. Parents must exactly this tell their children, they must be clear that they are proud of them. He explained that he doesn’t know about the existence of a gay lobby, not about this being dangerous, or the need of holding a referendum about. But one thing he knows: Forcing children to remain in the gender they are born with doesn’t make any sense if they cut wrist veins, hang up themselves, or even just if they become unhappy adults. He expressed his view that children must be guarded on a way to grow up freely and living well, helping them to discover the life, happiness, a way that leads to form a couple as independent adults. Tell the children you love them was the core of his message ►HU.

The regime turned against those thoughts, in Hungary only one decides what is good for children: Orbán. Hodász in several ways went against the ideology of the state party. Obviously against the anti-gay propaganda, against the ban of sex change, against the school policies of Orbán, wherein more and more things were added and instead of teaching the useful things pushing ideology became important. Creating free and independent adults from children is definitely another sinful call of Hodász. Péter Márki-Zay, however, visited a mess led by him.

Now András Hodász decided no longer to continue Papifrankó. On Magyar Hang he gave yesterday an interview why ►HU. He was attacked by the regime media, in many newspaper articles, on TV, often personally, but never about the core of his message. Zsolt Bayer, FIDESZ co-founder and both most disgusting and most influencing propagandist of the Orbán regime, infamous for his inhuman hate speech, wrote about Hodász that he has a problem to serve god. Bayer talked about the German priests abusing children (of course this doesn’t happen in Hungary….) and since Hodász said it’s okay to be gay, what about “little boys moving into the rectory?” Hodász declared: “it is difficult to withstand the storms …. It is very difficult to arm yourself against the abundance of letters, feedback, expiration, and moral destruction.”

Orbán attacked and won again over the believe he so often declares to protect.