Zoltan Laky, a journalist covering religious affairs for Valasz Online, says the post-election period “has been one of cautious, and sometimes uneasy, adjustment” for both Tisza and the Catholic hierarchy. The latter, Laky tells BIRN, were encouraged by senior Fidesz-KDNP politicians to position the church as a strategic hold-out against the new order “in the expectation that Fidesz would soon return to power”, predicting Tisza’s collapse this autumn.
With Fidesz losing its grip on state broadcasting and its private media empire visibly collapsing, bishops have reportedly experienced pressure from Fidesz-KDNP politicians to employ former propagandists in church outlets, and to centralise Catholic media content production. Some Fidesz-KDNP politicians want the Catholic Church to mirror the media umbrella structure (MTVA) they formerly used to control public broadcasting. Church authorities, responding to Valasz, said only that “there are currently numerous options on the agenda regarding the renewal of Church communications.”
The Catholic hierarchy effectively boycotted parliament’s opening on May 9, in contrast to their strong turnout following past Fidesz election victories. The Bishops’ Conference was represented by only one member: Greek-Catholic Metropolitan Fulop Kocsis. And he left early, citing a pastoral commitment.
Some observers worried that a sermon delivered by the president of the Bishops’ Conference, Janos Szekely, bishop of Szombathely, on May 23 at the annual Pentecost pilgrimage mass at the Transylvanian shrine of Csiksomlyo in Sumuleu Ciuc, Romania, uncomfortably replicated Fidesz’s post-election messaging.
Speaking to a crowd of 330,000, Szekely proclaimed “the country of love cannot be built on hatred, and the rule of law cannot be built by violating the law.” The term “country of love” is an ironic trope of Fidesz-aligned media, used as a shorthand for Tisza’s political project.
Latterly, however, a different approach has emerged, perhaps reflecting the influence of Hungary’s primate, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest. Criticised in some quarters for silence about civil rights abuses under Fidesz, Erdo is also widely viewed as a pragmatist.
The cardinal’s public appearances have lately been limited by illness, but he received Prime Minister Magyar privately in June and publicised pictures of their meeting soon after. In August, Catholic bishops were prominent in their attendance at the inauguration of Hungary’s new president, Andras Baka, signalling some distancing from Fidesz-KDNP, which rejects Baka’s election as “illegitimate”.
According to Laky, “the hierarchy now seems to recognise that it cannot become the unofficial opposition – if for no other reason than its heavy reliance on public funding.”