Budapest honors pastor opposed to Viktor Orbán

An evangelical pastor who has faced the wrath of Hungary’s ultra-nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by helping the homeless and fiercely criticizing the government has been made an honorary citizen of Budapest.

The symbolic act was seen as a clear sign of opposition to Orbán, just a week before Pope Francis’ one-day visit to the Hungarian capital.

The city council of the Hungarian capital, which is controlled by groups opposed to the prime minister’s Fidesz party, honored Pastor Gábor Iványi last Sunday during a ceremony at the cleric’s Fellowship Temple in Budapest.

Iványi, who was born in 1951 in a small town 100 kilometers southeast of Budapest, was rewarded for his charitable work and his efforts to help the most disadvantaged.

He founded the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship (MET) in 1979. 

He has also headed several schools and social institutions and is actively involved in welcoming the homeless and exiles.

Iványi made a name for himself in politics while serving in parliament (from 1990-1994 and 1998-2002) as a member of the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). 

He was often critical of Fidesz and its drift to the right and even took part in anti-government demonstrations.

"One does not choose to live on the street"

The evangelical pastor was once an ally of the 58-year-old Orbán and even blessed the prime minister’s marriage. But he soon became openly opposed to the Fidesz government and fiercely criticized its leader for his lack of humanity.

"Jesus was born homeless in a barn in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph could not find a home. The government keeps these people on the margins of society. But one does not choose to live on the street," Iványitold the online publication, The Zephyr, in 2018.

He says his critical comments and political opposition have put him in the crosshairs of the government.

And he says Orbán and his allies are waging a"campaign against his church out of personal vengeance".

The Hungarian tax authorities fined Iványi’s small church 246 million forint (€700,000) last February and four months later threatened not to sign the contract for the renewal of evangelical education for the new school year.

It was a measure that would prevent the disadvantaged children his church community cares for from going to school.

A restrictive law in 2011 had already stripped the Evangelical Fellowship of its state-recognition, depriving it of public subsidies.

The mayor of Budapest shows his support

Budapest’s left-leading mayor, Gergely Karácsony, personally attended Sunday’s ceremony to make Pastor Iványi an honorary citizen of the capital.   

"It is our duty to stand with and for the Hungarian Evangelical Fellowship, which is why I attended the Sunday service at the House of Reconciliation this morning," the 46-year-old mayor said in a message posted on his Facebook page. 

Karácsony, who is expected to be the opposition’s main candidate to unseat Orbán next April in the general election, denounced a"government campaign against Gábor Iványi” that he said “is an attack not only on those in need, but on all honest people".

Orbán was re-elected for a third term in 2018 and has pursued a repressive policy towards religious minorities, exiles and the homeless.

His position on migration issues is particularly at odds with that of Pope Francis.

Nonetheless, the two men will meet next Sunday when the pope makes a brief stop in Budapest to preside at the closing Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress before heading to neighboring Slovakia.