SCANDALOUS PAPAL AUDIENCE

Premier Gyurcsány complains about the Hungarian Catholic Church at the Holy See.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány during his Vatican visit criticized harshly the Hungarian Catholic Church for its so-called interference in Hungarian internal politics. During the short papal audience Pope John Paul II in his welcoming speech reminded the Premier of the constructive cooperation which had resulted in 1997 – during Gyula Horn’s premiership – in the agreement to support the Hungarian Catholic Church in its social and religious duties.

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, secretary of state of the Vatican urged the Hungarian Prime Minister to comply with the agreement between the Holy See and the Hungarian Republic and to convene the joint committee of the two states in order to discuss the controversial issues. The papal audience took place in the library of the Holy Father for a quarter of an hour while the talks with Cardinal Sodano took an hour in the Curia. Péter Harrach MP (Fidesz), deputy Speaker called the Premier’s behaviour insolent and ill-mannered, as Mr Gyurcsány forced out the audience and abused the right of the guest though he should have known that the Church was obliged to inform the religious people about questions affecting the whole nation. ’This mentality of the Premier stands closer to that of Rákosi than to that of Kádár’, he added.

István Nyakó, spokesman of the Hungarian Socialist Party refused the criticism saying that Péter Harrach spoke about insolence though it was him who popularized the views of Fidesz from the pulpits every weekend. He said it was not a diplomatic blunder that Prime Minister Gyurcsány brought up the problem.

Translated by Péter Szentmihályi Szabó