A Hungarian bishop has criticised new legislation requiring the state to “defend Christian culture”, and making it illegal to sleep on the streets or provide help to unregistered migrants and asylum-seekers.
“We all share responsibility for the homeless – God loves all his children equally and looks sadly at how we misunderstand each other,” Bishop Miklos Beer of Vac told Hungary’s Hir-TV. “We cannot be left cold when someone is starving, homeless or persecuted. Instead, we must awaken our consciences and assume that responsibility.”
The bishop was reacting to the amendments to Hungary’s Basic Law, passed overwhelmingly by the country’s parliament on 18 June, criminalising public homelessness and prescribing jail sentences and bans for unlawful work with refugees. The measures take effect from 1 July and also place a constitutional obligation on the government to “defend the Christian culture of Hungary”.
They were condemned by the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner, Said Raad Al-Hussein, who called them “an attack on fundamental rights and freedoms” and a sign of “ongoing incitement to hatred” by the government of Viktor Orban.
In an open letter before the vote, Bishop Janos Szekely of Szombathely, who heads the Church’s Caritas aid group, told parliamentarians that while sleeping on the streets damaged the “cultural values of cities”, the “real causes” of poverty and homelessness also had to be understood, adding that Hungary currently has just 10,000 places available in shelters and care homes for a homeless population of 30,000.“If our legislators tighten the law on living in public spaces, then they should also look at the Basic Law’s requirement that state and local governments ensure conditions for dignified housing and access to public services for all,” he said.
Hungary’s bishops’ conference has not commented officially on the latest legal amendments. The statements of the two bishops were not reported by the Church’s Magyar Kurir news agency.