In the interview published in the weekly’s online edition, the Prime Minister said in the context of the International Eucharistic Congress that “not even the Holy Father is protected against fake news”. According to the Hungarian position, the Holy Father is a head of state and the leader of a church all at once; as head of state, he deserves the greatest respect, while if he visits our country as the head of the Catholic Church, we will receive him with Christian humility, he pointed out.
He said the congress is not a Hungarian event, but an international one to be hosted by Hungary which will also be visited by the Pope. This left certain protocol issues open, and so this opened a gap in turn, he said, adding that “anti-church and anti-Christian circles began aiming for that gap”.
Mr Orbán highlighted that there is indeed a difference between the Holy Father’s opinion on migration and the Hungarian government’s position on the subject. “We are strongly opposed to migration, while the Catholic Church has its own position,” and from this it is very easy to fabricate a story which claims that the Holy Father and the Hungarian Prime Minister “don’t understand each other,” “don’t see eye to eye,” and eventually “don’t want to meet either,” he explained.
In answer to the question as to whether Hungary has managed to be reborn in the past three decades, the Prime Minister said we cannot yet speak about a rebirth, though a great many things have changed, including the ethos of the country. Life has a higher value today, but it does not yet receive the full respect it deserves, he said, adding that Hungary is still a secular state which seeks to find the path leading to God.
The Prime Minister said in Hungary there are atheists, anti-church forces and liberals who do everything they can to prevent the wider spread of Christian values, they have their media, are well-organised and have strong non-governmental associations. “However, we, too, have these on the conservative side – we have at least as many Christian media outlets as anti-Christian, our civil-society organisations are at least as strong as theirs, perhaps even stronger; and we hold the political positions as we have a Christian government,” he stated.
He also said in Hungary Christianity is not a matter of choice, but predestination. At present, there is a cultural, or even civilisational struggle under way; the struggle fought for Europe’s soul and future is here, it’s happening here. Therefore, today we need to pray for the unity of the whole of Christianity because without cooperation we cannot keep Christianity in Europe, he stressed.
Mr Orbán highlighted that Christian democratic politics also has a mandate in connection with Christian culture. Christianity created free man, and so we must primarily protect human dignity. Then Christianity created Christian family, and therefore we must protect the concept of Christian family. Additionally, Christianity also created nations in this part of the world, and so we must protect the nation, too, he listed, adding that we must likewise protect our religious communities, our churches.
He took the view that the great achievements of Christian civilisation must be protected.
He said regarding migration that if we want to help someone, rather than encouraging them to stay away from their home as long as possible, we must help them to return there as soon as they can. This is the position he recommends to the European Union as well: European military action, economic action, stabilisation and the creation of normal living conditions in these regions, he said.
He pointed out that migration is happening not spontaneously, but in an organised fashion, and the consequence will be that large Muslim masses will find themselves on the European continent. Those who are not defending themselves will not recognise their country in twenty years’ time, and this change will take place in response to something imposed on them from outside, he laid down.
The Prime Minister also said “if you swim with the current of the multicultural trend of our times, you’ll lose everything that’s important in life”. Hungary pays a high price for not being prepared to sign the Istanbul Convention and refusing to support Cold War politics in any way; for not kicking the Russian President together with the Westerners on a daily basis, but instead giving him the respect that he is entitled to; for protecting the Christian family model; for the fact that “over here there is no place for the LGBT madness”; we pay a high price for our position related to migration, and for not accepting Brussels bureaucracy, but instead wishing to build Central European cooperation as a counterweight. “But if we don’t pay that price and fail to represent our interests, perhaps we will have a more comfortable life, but in the end we will lose much more,” he stated.
According to Mr Orbán, Westerners decided to want to live in a post-national and post-Christian world, and want us, too, to live like that. Therefore, if some regional cooperation emerges which also extends to the protection of national, Christian cultures, that will meet with immediate ideological attacks, he explained, adding that these are left-liberal attacks originating from Brussels, and they are also in contact with American liberal political and economic forces.
He said the European Union is organised as an alliance comprised of Member States which are formally all equal, but France and Germany constitute an axis which primarily seeks to enforce its own will. This sometimes coincides, at other times clashes with the interests of Central Europe, he explained.
He stated that Central Europe must gain in strength so that we can enforce our interests. The Central Europeans stand up for nation states which they would like to preserve because they believe that democracy can only be realised within national boundaries. However, Western Europe wants an empire with its seat in Brussels instead, he said.
