Katalin Novák: “Having children will save the world”

“Having children will save the world,” Katalin Novák, President of Hungary, declared on Tuesday during a lecture for students at Brigham Young University, one of the leading universities in the United States, in Provo, Utah.

Speaking at the private, faith-based university that educates 35,000 students, she started her speech by  expressing her interest in the generation of people who can change the world. Katalin Novák spoke about the “demographic ice age” in the West, referring to the fact that no country in Europe has a population growth rate necessary to sustain its society.

Hungary, which has had a difficult history, has taken steps to address this situation, she said, explaining the family policy measures the Hungarian government has taken over the past decade to encourage the next generation of families, a fact which has doubled the number of marriages and halved the number of abortions in a decade.

Novák shared her own experiences with the American university students, emphasizing that it does not pay to give up a family life and children for a career.

She encouraged the students “not to be afraid of having children.”

After the lecture, students had the opportunity to question the Hungarian Head of State. When asked about the war in Ukraine, she said that for Hungary, as Ukraine’s immediate neighbor, peace was the most important thing, while those who lived geographically far from the conflict could not understand the situation at all.

Novák stressed that ethnic Hungarians living in Ukraine are also losing their lives in the war. She added that the US participation in the peace process is inevitable and plays a very important role. If the U.S. president is on the side of peace, the chances of peace in Ukraine are much higher, she said.

In response to a question, she made a point that

Hungary will not abandon Christianity, which it chose a thousand years ago, and building churches is a sign of that. Novák said that tolerance is an important value, but one cannot be tolerant if it requires his own identity’s denial.

Founded in 1875, Brigham Young University is a private, faith-based university that ranks among the top higher education institutions in the U.S. and is ranked 20th among the best universities in the United States by the Wall Street Journal.

On Tuesday, the final agenda item of her official trip to the United States, Novák held talks with Spencer Cox, the Republican governor of Utah, who hosted her at the state legislature building.

She stressed the importance of embedding family-friendly attitudes not only at an individual level, but also in state policy. The governor of the U.S. state, whose slogan is “Strengthening Families,” said that

Hungary’s pro-family attitudes resonate in the state of Utah.

He added that faith plays a role in pro-family attitudes and that these social institutions are under attack and in retreat today.

Spencer Cox, who has four children with his wife, also informed the Hungarian Head of State that the Utah state government, as of last year, has a family office with the explicit mission to protect families and promote the desire to have children. Previously, there had not been even a similar institution. In addition, Novák was the first Hungarian Head of State to pay an official visit to Utah.

During her trip to the U.S., the president had previously met and negotiated with the governors of Texas and Montana and a member of the Senate in Washington. On Monday, she also visited the new office building of car company Tesla, where she met one-on-one with company founder Elon Musk, focusing on demographic issues, childbearing, and supporting families.

Via: MTI,Featured photo: Katalin Novák’s Facebook