The Hungarian bishops have expressed the hope that the new pontificate may “bring benefits not only to the Church but to the whole of humanity”. Msgr. András Veres, secretary of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference, said he was “very happy that the new Pope had been elected so rapidly”. Benedict XVI, declared Msgr. Veres in an interview with the Hungarian press agency MTI, “will successfully continue the process of renewal that is taking place within the Church”. Some exponents of the other Christian confessions and religions in Hungary have also welcomed the election of the new Pope: “We hope that he will continue to build bridges between religions and cultures”, commented the rabbi Jozsef Schweitzer. According to the Calvinist bishop Gusztav Bölcskei, “every non-Catholic Christian is expecting the new Pope to show the same ecumenical opening as John Paul II and to continue his work”, reports the Catholic press agency Magyar Kurir.
