Secular News from Hungary

A presidential mother’s pardon

Hungarian president Katalin Novák granted presidential pardon to Endre K., who was sentenced for covering up the sexual abuse of children at the welfare institution he led.

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The pope knows where he’s going and that’s why he comes

Catholic church leader pope Francis I will spend three days in Hungary at the end of April. While some Hungarians believe the government’s policies are at odds with Catholic teachings and the pope wouldn’t visit if he knew, he does know, and that’s actually why he comes. The Hungarian Fidesz-government has developed an effective long-term means for promoting itself abroad: it provides funds to host conservative intellectuals from abroad at its various think tanks and training centres for tomorrow’s elite such…

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Also abuse survivors may go on to become priests

After a Hungarian court ruled that an abuse victim was guilty of stalking because he repeatedly called an office of the Catholic Church in Hungary to find out about the result of his case, a Catholic priest widely known for his youtube channel “Papi frankó” (“Priestly French”, ca. as in ‘Pardon my French”) came forward as survivor of abuse in the Catholic church in an interview with the independent Telex.hu, which provided English subtitles.

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Guilty of Wanting to Know

Do you remember the case of Attila Pető, who was reprimanded by the court because a few years ago he dared to send six mails and repeatedly phone the Roman Catholic Diocese in order to get information about the result of the procedure that was initiated after he had placed a complaint with the church in 2003 and again in 2015 because he was abused as a teen by a priest in 1999? Mr Pető appealed, and the court upheld the…

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Another victim in the dock

Another abuse victim was recently sentenced to paying 1 million forint (around 2500 euros) for damages. The victim had shared his abuse only with relevant Church authorities.

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Religious Affiliation in Hungary

One way to assess how strong the connectionection of Hungarians to religious communities is is to have a look at the “second 1%” of the personal income tax. Taxpayers in Hungary can dedicate 1% of their income tax to a civil organisation and a second 1% to a religious community or to a heading of the state budget assigned to provide a secular alternative for those who do not wish to support a religious community (non-religious life-stance organisations are not eligible,…

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Sexual Abuse in the Hungarian Catholic Church

The practice of covering up was the routine way of dealing with abusive clergy also in the Hungarian Catholic Church. Lately, two religious orders have put in place some procedures to prevent this practice in the future, but the church as such has not even been willing to meet with victims and ask for their pardon. Insight Hungary, the Hungarian blog of the news portal 444.hu, has published a detailed account of the situation in Hungary. https://insighthungary.444.hu/2021/02/26/hungarian-catholic-church-leaders-filed-charges-against-a-victim-of-sexual-abuse

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Putting Creationism in the Hungarian Constitution

While the amendment to the Hungarian basic law proposed by minister of justice Judit Varga last week has been (rightly) interpreted as aiming against homosexual couples applying for adoption and against LGBTQ*, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that the proposed amendment of the Hungarian constitution is expressis verbis based on creationism and curtails the freedom of scientific research and parents rights, as well as children’s religious freedom. (Ten years’ of pushing an anti-gender and anti-gay agenda have…

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Facts and Figures 2013

2011 census shows a sharp decline in religious affiliation (for a detailed discussion and earlier census data click here) as compared to 2001: 39% of the population identify as Catholic (Greek Catholics included), 11,6% as Calvinists, 2% as Lutherans, 0,11% as Jewish, 1,7% as other, and 18,2 have no affiliation (atheists included). 27,2% of the population decided it was none of the states business to ask about their religion and refused to answer. In 2004, a research organisation, Median, carried out…

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Religious community With a Backbone

The Hungarian government has allocated 1,5 billion forints (ca. 5 million Euros) for projects organised by NGOs in memory of the holocaust. However, the (Hungarian) Jewish community of Nové Zámky in Slovakia has refused to accept the 1,5 million forint (ca. 5000 Euro) allocated to them, since they find it inacceptable that the Hungarian government treats the dead as the loss of Jewry only, but not as killed Hungarian citizens, while shifting all resposibility to the Germans. They also object to…

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More EU Funds For Hungarian Churches

The Hungarian government gives another 1000 million Euro EU-funds to the churches, according to the weekly Világgazdaság. 4% of EU development funds may be used to fund public administration according to EU funding rules, but the governments are free to allocate these funds to other purposes and the Hungarian government has done so – stated Mr János Lázár, MP and head of the prime minister’s office, who from January 1st is also responsible for the distribution of EU monies received from…

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