In Hungary, Gergő Bese was one of those Catholic priests who serve the propaganda of Viktor Orbán's nationalist government every chance they get, starting with his homophobia-laced messages against "LGBT ideology." At the end of July, the 41-year-old cleric sometimes nicknamed the "Fidesz priest" because of his avowed closeness to the prime minister's party – he even blessed Orbán's offices in 2022 – was criticizing the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games in the government magazine Mandiner, calling it "Pride 2.0" with its "scandalous outfits" and "provocative behavior."
The media-savvy figure had welcomed the harsh criticism leveled by Orbán – along with many other far-right European political leaders – at the famous sequence in which singer Philippe Katerine appeared naked, his body painted blue, calling it a symbol of the "irrational behavior of Western Europeans." Making this image the embodiment "of a society that is losing its moral compass," Father Bese took the opportunity to warn Hungarians that, in his eyes, "gay marriage," banned in the country, is the "first step toward the irreversible destruction of society."
Barely a month later, on September 6, the same priest with a history of homophobic rhetoric, serving a small town of 4,000 residents 60 kilometers south of Budapest, was suspended "with immediate effect from his priestly service" by his archbishopric. The sudden decision followed embarrassing revelations by the independent news website Válasz Online, according to which compromising information against him had been circulating for months in circles of power. They included "videos and audio recordings" available on "gay porn sites" that allegedly showed Bese "indulging in homosexual parties." RTL TV channel, which had access to the videos, later even referred to group sex scenes filmed with the priest's own hand, recognizable by the bracelets he usually wears.
Known for its closeness to Orbán, the Hungarian Catholic Church reacted swiftly to the article. The day after the dramatic suspension, the priest acknowledged in a brief statement that he had "made a mistake" and "apologized to all those whom [he] has offended and disappointed." "I was deceived, my naivety was taken advantage of and I lost my common sense," he added, without going into further detail about the circumstances surrounding the videos.
The opposition and the press have had a field day with these revelations, as they once again spotlight the contradictions of the Hungarian government, which loves to denounce LGBT people and the supposed decadence of the Western world, but which has had several prominent members be called out for acts contrary to their rhetoric. In 2019, Zsolt Borkai, the Fidesz mayor of Győr, the country's sixth-largest city, was forced to resign after a video showing him using cocaine and indulging in a sex party with prostitutes on a yacht in Croatia was posted online.
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