Hungarian President Katalin Novák attended the Pentecost mass in Șumuleu Ciuc (Csíksomlyó, Romania) on Saturday. Talking to public media, she said it was uplifting to experience the togetherness of the nation during the largest pilgrimage of Hungarian Catholics.
Novák pointed out that this year’s attendees prayed for peace, which seems even more valuable with the war in a neighboring country, where Hungarian citizens have also lost their lives.
After mass, the president visited the church in Șumuleu Ciuc, and the statue of the Virgin Mary which the Catholic Church declared a miraculous statue in 1798, MTI reported.
Referring to the event, a video was published on Katalin Novák’s Facebook page, featuring the first part of the Székely anthem. The title of the Facebook post is a quote from the anthem: “Do not let Transylvania be lost, Our God!” The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted Hungary’s ambassador in Bucharest about “inappropriate public messages” made during the private visit of the president.
The Székely (or Szekler) anthem is a 1921 poem adopted by the Szekler National Council as the anthem of Székely Land on September 5, 2009. The lyrics were written by György Csanády one year after the Treaty of Trianon, and its music was composed by Kálmán Mihalik. The Székelys – also referred to as Szeklers – are a Hungarian community living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania.
The Romanian ministry’s protest is exaggerated and unjustified, but not unusual,”
the Hungarian president’s office at the Sándor Palace reacted. “The post in question, which features the Székely Anthem sung at the pilgrimage, is still available on the president’s social media platforms. To quote the greeting of the Transylvanian Reformed: Peace from God!” the Sándor Palace wrote. This was not the first time the Hungarian head of state was criticized by the Romanian ministry and she was already targeted by Romanian nationalists during one of her visits.
Source: Hungary Today