Bishop Fekete asks Balog to resign as president of Synod

Károly Fekete, Bishop of the Transtibiscan Reformed Church District, has asked Zoltán Balog to resign as president of the church’s Synod.

Balog on Tuesday apologised for having supported a presidential pardon granted to the deputy director of a children’s home who was found complicit in child abuse. He said a meeting of the church’s officials had been attended by four-fifths of the officials and ended in a secret vote where 86 percent of those present expressed support for him.

Fekete said in a statement on Wednesday that he had asked Balog at the meeting, “with a theologically-based argument”, to reconsider his decision and resign as president of the Synod in view of the situation.

The majority of the deacons and chief elders present at the meeting gave a vote of confidence to Balog, who released a video message about the outcome of the vote, Fekete said, noting that he and Balog had spoken again on Wednesday.