The founder and long-time president of the Hungarian Auxiliary Service of the Order of Malta was laid to rest on November 15 in the crypt of St. Stephen’s Basilica, following a funeral Mass attended by the Prime Minister, members of the Government, the Grand Hospitaller of the Order of Malta Fra’ Alessandro de Franciscis, members of the Hungarian Association and Auxiliary Corps as well as confreres and colleagues from neighbouring countries and from Germany, and thousands of mourners from all over the country.

Father Imre Kozma, Ch.C.G.C. ad hon., founding member of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, died on October 17, aged 84. He was a well-known, inspiring and widely respected figure in Hungary and in the region. Father Kozma played a pivotal part in a key episode of the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, and went on to develop one of the largest auxiliary services of the Order of Malta worldwide.

Father Imre Kozma was ordained in 1963. His unusual, outspoken sermons appealed especially to the youth – and made him notorious to the authorities.  He emphasised that Christianity is not theory but praxis: his parishioners were mandated to undertake concrete charitable and social tasks, something unusual, indeed suspect, at that time in a socialist country. The volunteer network that he created in his last parish, Zugliget (Budapest), eventually formed the basis of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta.

Father Kozma came into contact with the Order of Malta in 1987. In the twilight of the Communist era, as it became possible for the Order to send humanitarian aid to Hungary, he and his parish volunteers were its main local logistics hub. He was a co-founder of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta (MMSZ) in February 1989. That summer, he took the considerable political risk of opening his parish church garden to host the first refugee transit camp for some 50,000 East Germans fleeing through the Hungarian-Austrian border, weeks before the Hungarian authorities officially opened the border. This was one of the key events that led up to the fall of the Iron Curtain in November 1989.

He launched humanitarian actions, supported by German and other units of the Order, during the Romanian revolution in December 1989, and later during the Balkan war. Meanwhile, thanks to his boundless drive, willingness to take risks and unfailing trust in Divine Providence, MMSZ became the largest civil society organisation in Hungary, with a network of social, educational and health care services in its institutions, volunteer groups and nation-wide programmes. It is also active internationally, with humanitarian projects in Africa and the Middle East.

Father Kozma was admitted to the Order of Malta in 1990. In 1997, he joined the Barmherzige Brüder monastic order, of which he led the national chapter until 2021. He was the recipient of more than thirty major awards, in Hungary and internationally, including the French Legion of Honour and the European Citizen Award.

Chief celebrant at the funeral Mass was Bishop Balázs Levente Martos, Head Chaplain of the Hungarian Association of the Order of Malta, celebrated the liturgy, flanked by two other bishops and several priests. Tamás Sulyok, President of the Republic of Hungary, unable to attend, paid his respects in person before the beginning of the celebration. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Speaker of Parliament László Kövér, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér, ex-President János Áder and his wife Anita Herczegh, Goodwill Ambassador of MMSZ, were among the attendees. The ceremony was followed on giant outdoor screens by those who could not fit into the basilica.

The deputy President of MMSZ, Miklos Vecsei, who had been one of his old parish group in Zugliget, paid tribute to the Christian qualities that Father Kozma instilled in them all.

Bishop Martos noted in his homily: “The name of Father Imre Kozma has become a concept, associated with freedom, with regime change and with the spirit of charity. He had light in his eyes, because he lived courageously and consistently. He defied the political forces that pressed down on him, and constantly did the right thing, despite all difficulties.”