communism and antisemitism" "
Hungarian Catholic priests accused of having spied for the Communist regime were “victims of a cruel system whose founders and perpetuators could still be in power today. These politicians don’t have any moral justification for condemning those who had this role” and the atmosphere that has been created “serves only to attack the Church and throw discredit on its clergy”, said Bishop Andràs Veres, secretary of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference, on 1st March. Msgr. Veres was intervening again on behalf of the Hungarian episcopate, following the publication last week of a list of Catholic priests who allegedly acted as informers during the Communist period (cf. SirEurope 16/2005). The public debate following this disclosure was triggered by an article published by a Hungarian historian, resident for 40 years in Germany, which documented these facts, as reported by the Catholic portal Magyar Kurir. “Under socialism each sector of society was under observation recalls Bishop Veres -. Even those in the lowest positions were obliged to prepare ‘reports on the surrounding environment'”. “The Communist party he added established this system of observation even among priests and religious, because they were considered its main ideological enemy. To maintain this system in life every form of physical and mental terror was used. Many heroically resisted it, often with the sacrifice of their own life. They included many laypeople, religious and priests. The Catholic Church has paid a high price for their courage. Others have left the country or moved to provincial parishes to be able to continue their ministry. Some succumbed under the weight of their sufferings and accepted to collaborate with the regime. They became victims of a cruel system whose founders and perpetuators could still be in power today”. Msgr. Veres asks for “forgiveness” in the name of “those who offended their companions and God”, but at the same time recalls that “many of these informers revealed their activities to their colleagues in the priesthood” and, following the political revolution, some “asked for forgiveness from those on whose activities they had reported”. To those who accuse the Church of being disinclined to come to terms with its own past, Msgr. Veres points out that “priests were the victims of the politicians and could become so again today”. “Publishing false lists of uncertain origin he concludes is still part of the attack on the Church”. In Hungary the Church plays an active role in education, in social work and in health care. The Accord between the Vatican and Hungary, signed in 1997, regulates the financial aspects. Recently there have been numerous sources of political tension between State and Church: apart from the question of informers for the regime, they include the government’s proposal to introduce a law that would give less support to Catholic than to public schools. “Without doubt said Bishop Veres an organized offensive has been mounted against the Churches, and especially against the Catholic Church. But the Church has survived many offensives in 2000 years”.
