” “"Europe is facing a difficult challenge, the need of a common identity and also the respect of the cultural differences, in the unrecognised plurality that has always been the distinctive sign of the Old Continent". This is the opinion of the Hungarian Sándor Fazakas at the meeting on "Laicism" that is ending tomorrow in Falconara Marittima (An), Italy. "How must the Churches respond to this challenge? Especially in Central and Eastern Europe, where the ethnic and confessional identity is closely related to the historical and cultural self-awareness?", asks Fazakas. After the collapse of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, recalled Fazakas, in Hungary there has been a "change of trend" in the relations between the State and the Church: the Hungarian Church "became a minority in a pluralized and modernised society", with a dilemma to be solved. On one side, "for the population, it is the only reliable institution, embodies continuity with the common history of the European culture and offers a chance of moral strength after the disappearance of the ideologies". On the other side, "the State shows no interest in the contribution of the Churches to the political, legal and social organisation of the Hungarian society".” “
