Hungary's government will ensure by law that religious institutions providing public services shall receive no less funding than their municipal counterparts, Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen told reporters on Tuesday, following a session of the Hungary-Vatican joint committee.Representatives of the Catholic Church and the government agreed that the most important components of the planned legislation would be drafted before October 31, Cardinal Peter Erdo, Archbishop of Budapest-Esztergom, said after the talks.
"Church-run public institutions such as schools, hospitals, shelters or museums should get as much state support as municipal institutions with a similar function," Semjen said.
He added that the previous, Socialist governments had violated the Vatican Agreement, which governs state financing for religious institutions, and had amassed considerable arrears in unpaid central subsidies due especially to church-run schools.
The current government will settle that debt in due course, he said.
The Catholic Church will take into consideration the country's fiscal situation and possibilities and will be reasonable in solidarity with society, Erdo said. The Archbishop added that he thought that the meeting was an "encouraging beginning, the revival of a process".
Apostolic Nuncio Juliusz Janusz welcomed the meeting and said that participants were looking forward to the next steps.
SIC: PHU/EU