The point is, it should hurt

Seeing the Cathedral Notre-Dame on fire filled not only the religious hearts with deep sorrow. And this common sorrow shows us perfectly how deeply and strongly interconnected are Christianity and the European identity, cardinal Péter Erdő explains Válasz in a good Friday interview in which he also made some statements about various aspects of public life. Here are a few of them:

- The Church itself does not wish to sympathise with any political groupings.

- There are dangers of hostilities that can develop if we let people turn against each other based on labels like “Christian” or “Muslim”. A clash of civilisations can be a forecast – but also an intention!

- The ratio of people going to church on Sunday was the same in the early 1900s.

- The memory of the 1938 International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest – shadowed by that year’s anti-Jewish laws in Hungary – is itself positive. The aim of next Congress in the Hungarian capital in 2020 is not to overwrite the memory of the last one.

- Sciences are one and scientific research must be free.

- Christianity cannot be a negative concept. It never defines what one is not. It means one belongs to Christ.

Read THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE!