Following the 7th district’s mayor Péter Niedermüller’s controversial comments about “white, Christian, heterosexual men,” the Civil Unity Forum (CÖF) has turned to Pope Francis in an open letter to defend the Christian community in Hungary.”
Back in January, the 7th district’s Democratic Coalition (DK) mayor, Péter Niedermüller said in an interview that “[…] if we look at what remains if you strip away these hated delineations that we have listed: non-Hungarians, others, migrants, Roma, I don’t know what, then there is this scary formation left in the middle: white, Christian, heterosexual men – and there are of course (some) women among them. That’s the family concept. And this is terrible, because if we look at what the so-called white nationalists are made up of all over the world: that’s it…”
His remarks were met with great outrage, and demonstrators gathered in front of Nidermüller’s mayoral office to protest against his controversial comments. At the same time, members of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops’ Conference also expressed their “astonishment” over his words on “white, Christian, heterosexual men.” The body’s permanent council said on Wednesday that “Christians are being stigmatised because of their faith in Hungary in 2020.”
Protesters Demand DK’s Niedermüller’s Withdrawal over ‘Racist and anti-Christian’ Remarks
On Saturday, the Civil Unity Forum brought charges against Niedermüller with strong suspicions of violence against a member of the community and incitement to community violence, while on Monday, the CÖF asked Pope Francis in an open letter to protect Christians from the mayor. In the open letter, published on Facebook on Monday, the CÖF-CÖKA is “appealing to His Holiness because the Christian community in Hungary has been under constant attack in recent days, stemming from a former member of the European Parliament and now mayor of one of the districts of the capital, Péter Niedermüller, vice president of the left-liberal Democratic Coalition, who called white, heterosexual, Christian men and women “scary formations” on a nationwide television program a few days ago.”
The CÖF-CÖKA, calling themselves “a mass-supported non-governmental organization in Hungary” also wrote that “given that no clear condemnation of the stigma or the disgraceful statement has yet been made by those concerned, and even several leftist-liberal politicians have been supportive of the offending allegation, we have decided that we call upon the authority of the Holy See to defend the Christian community in Hungary.” The open letter was signed by László Csizmadia, Izabella Bencze, Zoltán Lomnici Jr., and Tamás Fricz.
featured photo: László Csizmadia (photo: Imre Földi/MTI)