The scandal is very similar to the famous affair of autumn 2020. At that time, Jozsef Szajer, a close associate of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, escaped from a gay party in Brussels through a gutter. He was captured, the case was reported in the Belgian media, and Szajer retired from politics. The scandal was a major blow to the regime, because Szajer had known Orban since the beginning of Fidesz and had developed a conservative constitution that has been in force in Hungary since the right-wing government took power.
According to Hungarian commentators, the Bese scandal – like the Szajer scandal – painfully exposes the hypocrisy of the regime and its supporters, who say something completely different from what they say. “This government has been waging a fierce anti-LGBTQ crusade in the style of Putin for years, and apparently there are a lot of homosexuals in it,” Gabor Miklos jokes. The publicist admits that although Hungarians currently mostly mock the priest’s sex life and portals compete in revealing information about his crimes, the scandal is a problem for the government. “The photos of Bese’s father disappeared very quickly from Orban’s Facebook profile,” he says.
The Amazing Story of Father Bese
The Valasz Online portal claims that a detailed dossier on the priest has reached the highest circles of power in Budapest. It shows that he organized gay events and had long-term sexual relationships with other men. The evidence is video recordings. Some of them ended up on websites where you can watch gay porn. The journalists also obtained the priest’s text messages.
The website explains that it decided to reveal the priest’s sexual orientation and life because he was not an ordinary cleric, but a representative of “politicized” Christianity. “Gergo Bese is a figure on the border between the Church and public life. In other words: if there is an emblematic representative of political Christianity who put the political aspects of Fidesz above faith, it was, of course, Bese,” writes Andras Bodis of Valasz Online. Before publication, the website’s journalists sent questions to both the priest and his superior, but received no response from them.
Valasz Online found that the parish priest from Dunavecse was a supporter and defender of Fidesz within the Catholic Church and participated in several government initiatives promoting Christian and family values. Two years ago, he dedicated the new headquarters of the Prime Minister’s office in the Carmelite Monastery on Castle Hill in Buda, as well as several other offices more or less connected with the regime.
He was a priest who – to put it mildly – did not shy away from politics. Before the 2022 elections, he campaigned for Fidesz. He wrote that those who vote for the opposition choose school fees, higher fees in social institutions and the closure of rural churches. In articles and speeches, he explained that the goal of “LGBTQ ideology” is to conquer the world. He wrote that children from dysfunctional or incomplete families are more exposed to “propaganda”.
Father Bese has made no secret of his links to the ruling party. He has condemned anti-government demonstrations by teachers, and Peter Magyara, who in recent months has emerged as the largest opposition force on the Danube, has called him “the Judas of Fidesz.” [Magyar przez lata związany był z partią rządzącą – red.]The priest was famous for his ultra-conservative views – he criticized the famous Hungarian singer Gabi Toth for divorcing her husband. He did not like the drag queen’s participation in the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games. What is extremely important is that the investigation of the Valasz Online portal shows that his activities were financed by the regime. Over the course of six years, two non-governmental organizations indirectly related to him received government support worth 41 million forints (approximately 101,000 euros). He was also supposed to receive subsidies of 60 million forints (152,000 euros) from the Prime Minister’s Office for various initiatives and programs he sponsored.
Scandal in Hungary, priest explains himself
Janos Szeky, a writer and columnist for the independent magazine “Elet es Irodalom”, tells me that the Bese father scandal is very much in the Hungarian public opinion, although this is partly due to the cucumber season, when there is little relevant political news.
– Interestingly, it coincided with another news story from the intersection of politics and religion – the leak about the enlargement of the iconic “Statue of Liberty” on top of Gellert Hill with a huge cross. Father Bese was one of the regime’s “star priests” because he consecrated the prime minister’s seat in a former monastery in Buda. He was known for his strident anti-LGBTQ views and his ties to the propaganda machine, which makes his case all the more grotesque. I think the excitement over the scandal will pass quickly and quietly, just as it did after the scandal with Szajer in the lead role. I fear that the part of Hungarian public opinion that criticizes Orbán will not be able to connect the dots and fully realize that all of Orbán’s passionate “Christianity” and his attacks on LGBTQ people are not only fake, but also completely empty. This is just theater, a tool of anti-Western propaganda, says Szeky.
Father Bese comes from the diocese of Kaloc-Kecskemec. Archbishop Balazs Babel, who headed it, suspended the priest after two days of consideration. At the same time, the parish priest sent a statement to one of the Hungarian portals: “Yesterday was one of the darkest days in my life and that of my family. It only lifts you up and exalts you, but in an instant it sends you to hell (…) I made a mistake, I was deceived, my naivety was taken advantage of and I lost my common sense, I broke my priestly oath. I apologize to everyone I offended and disappointed.
I have carried out my priestly ministry and my teaching work to the best of my ability and with great energy. I am very grateful for the graces I have received, for the love of the people and for the many people I have brought closer to God and my Church during my vocation. Now (…) this ministry is coming to an end. Thank you to all who have contacted me offering their help and, of course, to those who have supported me with their prayers. In the coming weeks I would like to retire, calm down, repent and reflect on my life. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus speaks to his disciples: Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses it for my sake will find it. Thank you very much for everything!
How Viktor Orban uses religion
Hungarians, with a population of less than 10 million, are a highly secularized country. People who consider themselves Christians live mainly in the province, which is why they constitute Orbán’s core constituency. Catholics are the largest religious group in the Danube. According to the 2022 census, of the 4.2 million Hungarians who declared belonging to a church or religious community, 2.9 million are Catholic (approximately 30%), including approximately 165,000 Greek Catholics. In turn, around 950,000 are Calvinists of the Hungarian Reformed Church (9.8%). There are also approximately 176,000 people living in Hungary. Lutherans (1.84%) and 15,000 Orthodox.
– Orban is a Calvinist, but he behaves as if he were Catholic. In any case, his religiosity is the result of pure political calculation, Gabor Miklos tells me. The “Nepszava” columnist recalls that in the late 1980s, when Fidesz was founded, the current prime minister was an agnostic and a liberal who fought against the Catholic Church. His approach to religion began to change when he met his future wife, Aniko Levai.
In 2005, Orbán stated: “I grew up in a non-religious environment (…) This lasted until I met my future wife, who came from a practicing Catholic family. our lives. Personally, I have come a long way to be able to say that I am a believing Christian.” Orbán married Levai in 1989, and their union was blessed by the Methodist pastor Gabor Ivanyi, because Catholic priests and bishops were still very critical of the young rebellious liberal…
