Hargitai Miklós - És bocsásd meg vétkeinket

He said yes to God because a girl said no to him. He joined the church because he did not want worldly power to have anything to do with his life. But you can't hide from politics in the confessional either, and temptation can also find you within the walls of the church.

The priest who tells the story learns to his own detriment that peace of mind is sometimes easier to lose in church than to find. He realizes that beyond the divine commandments, nothing is set in stone, and after a few confessions - which we can also listen to - everything in which he had firmly believed is called into question.

Confession is a great opportunity to think about everything that you don't have time for otherwise: about the relationship between faith and power, compassion, sacrifice, love of neighbor, the calamities that await the world, migrations and climate disasters, nowhere else can you have such in-depth conversations as in in the confessional, where everyone is listened to and every word is weighed against the scales of biblical teaching. But confession is risky.

Miklós Hargitai. The piarists. The Pető Institute. Journalist studio of the Magyar Nemzet. 23 years at Népszabadság. A quarter of a century in the moon court of politics, as a believer. A family, countless trips to Sweden, and a decision to be here rather than there. This is what it became. This book is about a priest. About an imaginary priest and an imaginary country.