Sunday, February 9, amid concern in Hungary about a possible invasion of Iraq.
The prayers came as opinion polls showed that over 80 percent of Hungarians opposes a war with that country. Also, two out of three Hungarians are reportedly against the training of up to 3,000 Iraqi exiles at a United States military base in Taszar, 200 kilometres south west of Budapest.
Lutheran Bishop Bela Harmati spoke indirectly about America when he expressed his doubts about the possibility of a short war. "Those who call for war, always say the fight will be short and will not demand heavy sacrifices, but this has never proven true," he said during the ecumenical prayer service in the St. Stephen Basilica, Budapest’s main Catholic church.
"POWER OF GOD"
"War could be avoided if we trusted the power of God, who is the greatest power of any powers," he added. Among those attending the service was also ex-Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose centre right Fidesz party has criticized the Socialist-Liberal Government for supporting the United States views on Iraq.
Last week current Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy was one of eight European leaders who signed a declaration published in several news papers supporting the U.S. policy towards the country of Saddam Hussein.
Medgyessy, a former Communist, has said that Hungary as a new NATO member has no other option that to support America. However Catholic priest Geza Szabo of the St. Stephen Basilica warned that "world is threatened by war," referring to Pope John Paul II’s slogan "Peace on earth".
"WIND OF WAR"
Bishop Harmati said that "the wind of war" could reach Hungary, a small nation of 10 million people. "Although it is far away, its wind will certainly reach us, since we had to learn that the world is a global unity," he added.
However the prayer service for peace was overshadowed by news that Catholic and Protestant church leaders used the same basilica earlier to honour Miklos Horthy, Hungary’s former regent from 1920 till 1944, whose remains were brought back to Hungary in the nineties.
Under Horthy the country introduced Europe’s first anti Semitic laws. Hungary also supported Nazi Germany during most of World War Two, when about 600-thousand Hungarian Jews died.
