HIS-Press-Service, 1980 (5. évfolyam, 16-18. szám)
1980-02-01 / 16. szám
HIS Press Service No.16, February 1980 Page 14 way a result of an internal logic or a historical development, but stems rather from the historical state of affairs wherein those responsible for present guidelines and for developing and carrying out the Church politics of the Hungarian State are for the most part the very same persons who earlier ordered or carried out the repressive legal and administrative measures and the entire plan of Church persecution. These civil servants are still interested, under the present Church political situation, in seeing an acknowledgement of the results of their almost 30-year period of activity. Efforts are made by them to justify past mistakes, and they are opposed to compensation for damage caused in the past since this would be equivalent to an admission of such mistakes. In December 1956 the government, which was interested in a consolidation of the political and economic forces after the Hungarian uprising, abolished the State Office for Church Affairs and transferred its jurisdiction, in accordance with the traditional division of governmental departments, to the Ministry of Education. Evidently the government too found it questionable that in a time of political crisis an institution should exist whose sole concern was that of Church politics. In June 1959, however, the above institution was re-established with essentially the same structure and only insignificant personnel changes. In the documentation delivered in Vienna, Secretary of State Miklós expressed the hope that the "historically evolved situation" between Church and State will also be accepted by those Church leaders who for the time being are still aiming for "unrealistic goals." When in connection with this he makes mention of Pope John Paul II as a concrete example of such a person, he is probably referring to the letter sent by the Pope to Hungary's bishops on 2 December 1978 in which, among other things, he expressed his conviction that Hungary's Catholic Church "would continue to form (conformare) the country's mental life." The problem seen here by Secretary of State Miklós probably has to do with the interpretation of the word (conformare": "to form alone," "to participate in the formation (of some thing)," or "to help form." At the same time, Miklós does not view the "historically evolved situation" as completed. On the contrary, he places equal emphasis upon the possibility of changes in the existing situation, i.e., in the present status. All such changes, however, must come about on the basis of "given realities." The justified religious demands of the faithful, Miklós stressed, will always be taken into consideration. Proof of such justification, however, must be furnished by the Church. He mentions too that such sought changes can only come about "in small steps." Large changes or transformations which occur too rapidly will not be approved by the State, since such demands are "highly strung emotional illusions (and) nostalgic demonstrations" which in the long run can only prove harmful.
