Your Grace, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Christian brothers and sisters from Veszprém,
As we gather here today to celebrate in this sacred place, within the walls of Veszprém Cathedral, we are not merely rededicating a building, but returning to one of the foundation stones of our own past, and of Hungarian history itself. This is a tangible truth, because in the very walls of Saint Michael’s Cathedral one still finds stones from the original cathedral, founded by Blessed Gisela. The history of Hungary and the light of Christianity are not two separate threads, but fibres within the same fabric. From the very beginning, when Saint Stephen had to make that great, epoch-defining decision about the fate of our people, the choice of Christianity was not simply a religious conversion – it was a historic determination and a personal decision: to belong to the Christian world, and to build the Hungarian state, guided by the light of faith. There is an old saying still used today in Blessed Gisela’s homeland: “Keep the church in the middle of the village.” This roughly means, “Don’t go to extremes; don’t take on more than you have strength for.” But its original sense is deeper: “The responsibility entrusted by divine law to the church built in the village must not be handed over to anyone else.” This is a profound reminder that we must not allow the compass, which Christianity has held in its hand for two thousand years, to be taken away from it. Today in Europe there are many malicious – and some perhaps merely naïve – efforts to replace what is old: to reinvent for ourselves life’s principles and moral order, to drive out from the centre of our lives those who represent the order of our forebears and their communities.
In Hungary over the past fifteen years we have done precisely the opposite. We have strengthened those communities whose values and way of life have time and again throughout history preserved the Hungarian people and the Christian Hungarian way of life. Our Fundamental Law declares: “The protection of the constitutional identity and Christian culture of Hungary shall be an obligation of every organ of the State.” In order to give that responsibility full expression much remains to be done, but it is heartening to know and to see that the Church has uninterruptedly continued its ministry among us for a thousand years – whether the wind has been at its back, against it, whether it has had to steer its ship through calm or stormy waters. It is this service that placed Veszprém Cathedral in the heart of the city and raised it above the city. And that height lifts our hearts and our gaze upward, towards higher purposes. Everything that does not touch the heavenly realm is transient, while what does touch it is not: it is not passing, but lasting – indeed eternal, and therefore of a higher order. And who among us would wish their life to sink into the waters of transience? This is why, when we lift our eyes to this cathedral, we find solace.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
When the power of faith gathered armies strong enough to defend the nation, these walls, these towers, these stones have seen glory. They have also seen devastation – when foreign powers ravaged our land. They have seen how faith sustained the Hungarian people, and they have also seen times when the clamour of the world drowned out the message of the Good News. They saw how, in the 1950s, thirty priests in the Diocese of Veszprém suffered imprisonment and internment – when even the Bishop himself was interned. They saw the dissolution of religious orders, and the nationalisation of church-run social institutions. They saw the seminary closed in 1951. They saw officials of the notorious State Office for Church Affairs – the infamous “mustachioed bishops” – place the Church under political supervision. The oppression of the nation went hand in hand with the persecution of the Church. We must never forget this. Anti-church and anti-Christian forces must never be taken lightly. In Hungarian politics we are seeing the reemergence of unhinged agitators against our churches, a modern day version of the violent Lenin Boys – the inflamed Bolshevik street squads shouting at priests. We must lose no time in standing up against them – and for ourselves. We shall not yield a single square centimetre to the harassment or persecution of Christian communities in Hungary. Instead, we shall continue our work of building both churches and the nation. Across the Carpathian Basin over the past decade nearly four thousand churches have been renovated, and more than two hundred new Christian churches have been built. And we shall not stray from this path, but do what we must : with a sword in one hand, and a trowel in the other.
It is painful to see, but different winds are now blowing in what was once Christian Europe. The continent that once built churches has become a civilisation that tears them down. In Germany, over the past twenty-five years five hundred and fifty churches have become derelict; one hundred and sixty of them have been demolished, and only fifty new ones have been built. In France, last year alone 1,700 churches were closed throughout the whole year, and some 5,000 buildings face demolition or sale. The same is true in the Netherlands, and also in Britain. Thank God that here in Central Europe the winds have not yet changed in that direction. Central Europe endures, and time and again it rises. Here we still know that if Christianity is lost, the homeland is lost too. Here we still know that there are things one must not joke about, risk, or experiment with – such as migration, child-rearing, the family, and national sovereignty.
Yesterday the Czechs went to the polls, and from the results I read that the Czechs are of sound mind. We remember Saint Adalbert, we remember John Hunyadi’s Czech warriors, and we remember that five hundred years ago Czech soldiers were also there on the field at Mohács, defending Hungary and Europe against the invading armies. We wholeheartedly rejoice at the resounding victory of Czech patriots yesterday, and we are relieved to see that we can count on yet another ally in the coming battles in Brussels.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Your Grace, Dear Christian brothers and sisters from Veszprém,
On behalf of the whole of Hungary, I thank the people of Veszprém for today’s celebration, and for your loyalty and hard work. And I offer partnership from the Government in your great and serious endeavours in the future. Veszprém’s success has always meant prosperity for Hungary. May it be so in the future as well!
God above us all, Hungary before all else!
Go Hungary, go Hungarians!