The Prime Minister’s Press Chief Bertalan Havasi has informed the kormany.hu government news portal that, following the death of Father Placid Olofsson, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has written a letter to the Archabbot of Pannonhalma and the grieving Benedictine congregation, expressing his shock and condolences.
Mr. Orbán wrote: “I was shocked to hear that one of the true witnesses to Hungarian freedom and European Christian culture has passed away. The one hundred years of his life were a courageous testimony to the fact that where there is the spirit of the Lord there is freedom: in the church and the classroom, as well as in prison and labour camps”. He added that “It is from him that we learned the four fundamental rules of survival, and that not even the darkest dictatorship can take away a believer’s faith in God”.
“We are grateful that through his fascinating and cheerful personality he brought courage, faith and spiritual healing into the lives of those who listened to him, and that he was a true example of loyalty and patriotism for every single Hungarian”, the Prime Minister wrote in closing.
Benedictine monk Placid Olofsson (born Károly Olofsson) passed away on Sunday night at the age of 100.