Péter Erdő

His Eminence Péter Erdő
Cardinal Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest Primate of Hungary
Erdő at St. Stephen's Basilica, Budapest
Province	Esztergom-Budapest
See	Esztergom-Budapest
Appointed	7 December 2002
Installed	11 January 2003
Predecessor	László Paskai, O.F.M.
Other post(s)	Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria Nuova
Previous post(s)	Titular Bishop of Puppi (1999–2002) Auxiliary Bishop of Székesfehérvár (1999–2002) Cardinal-Priest of Santa Balbina (2003–2023)
Orders
Ordination	18 June 1975 by László Lékai
Consecration	5 November 1999 by Pope John Paul II
Created cardinal	21 October 2003 by Pope John Paul II
Rank	Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born	Péter Erdő (1952-06-25) 25 June 1952 (age 72) Budapest, Hungary
Nationality	Hungarian
Denomination	Roman Catholicism
Motto	Initio non erat nisi gratia (In the beginning there was nothing but grace)
Coat of arms

Styles of Péter Erdő
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Esztergom-Budapest

Péter Erdő (Hungarian: Erdő Péter, pronounced [ˈɛrdøː ˈpeːtɛr]; born 25 June 1952) is a Hungarian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who has served as the Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest and Primate of Hungary since 2003.

He was president of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe from 2006 to 2016 and was the relator general for the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.

Erdő is reputed to have a special Marian devotion to Our Lady of Consolation. He is fluent in English, Italian, French, Latin and his native Hungarian. He has also addressed congregations in Slovak in the past.^[1]

Erdő has spoken in support of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.^[2][3]

Erdő was born in Budapest on 25 June 1952,^[4] the first of the six children of Sándor and Mária (née Kiss) Erdő. He studied at the seminaries of Esztergom and Budapest, and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome (where he attained doctorates in both theology and canon law). On 18 June 1975, Erdő was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop László Lékai, and was incardinated in the Archdiocese of Esztergom.^[4] He worked as parochial vicar in Dorog, and then continued his studies in Rome from 1977 to 1980. For the next eight years, he taught as a professor of theology and canon law at the Seminary of Esztergom, and held guest lectures at several foreign universities. Erdő served in the Hungarian Episcopal Conference as Secretary of the Commission of Canon Law in 1986, and later as its president in 1999. In 1988 he began teaching theology at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, serving as rector from 1998 to 2003. Since 2005 he has been the Great Chancellor of the university.

On 5 November 1999, he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Székesfehérvár and titular bishop of Puppi.^[4] He received his episcopal consecration on 6 January 2000 from Pope John Paul II with Archbishops Giovanni Battista Re and Marcello Zago, OMI, acting as co-consecrators. Erdő was named Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest on 7 December 2002, a post which carries with it the title of Primate of Hungary.^[4] Erdő became a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2007 and a full member in 2013.^[5] In 2011, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Navarra (Spain).

He was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Balbina by John Paul II in the consistory of 21 October 2003. He was the youngest member of the Sacred College until the appointment of Reinhard Marx in 2010.

Erdő was elected to a five-year term as president of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference in September 2005 and to a five-year term as president of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe in October 2006. On 17 January 2009 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture by Pope Benedict XVI,^[6] and on 29 January 2011 of the Secretariat of State (Second Section).^[7]

Erdő sponsored the Thirteenth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law in Esztergom, 3–9 August 2008.^{[citation needed]} On 19 October 2011, the apostolic nunciature in Peru announced that he would undertake an apostolic visitation to intervene in the dispute between the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima.^[8]

On 18 September 2012, Erdő was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to be one of the Synod Fathers for the upcoming October 2012 Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.^[9]

On 14 October 2013, Erdő was named by Pope Francis to serve as the Relator General of the Third Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which took place from 5 to 19 October 2014. The chosen theme is "The challenges of the family in the context of evangelization".^[10] He resumed his appointment as Relator General when the Synod reconvened in October 2015.^[11] In the 2015 book The Rigging of a Synod?, Vatican correspondent Edward Pentin claimed that Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri had pressured Erdő to soften the wording of his 2014 address to the Synod.^[12] In 2015, Erdő's second address to the synod was described by journalists, such as Damian Thompson of The Spectator and John L. Allen Jr. of the Boston Globe, as more theologically conservative in its tone.^[12][13]

As cardinal elector, Erdő participated of papal conclave 2005 and papal conclave 2013, which elected Benedict XVI and Francis. He has been mentioned as a possible candidate to be elected as the next Pope as of 2022,^[14] and will be entitled to participate in the next conclaves until 2032, his 80th birthday. Specially in 2013, he had been mentioned as a possible candidate to be elected pope.^[15]

In March 2023, his titular church was changed to Santa Maria Nuova after his previous titular church, Santa Balbina, was closed because of structural deterioration.^[16]

Erdő requested that the Hungarian Chief Prosecutor's Office legally, morally, and politically rehabilitate Cardinal József Mindszenty, his predecessor, who fought Hungary's Communist regime and was arrested by the country's Stalinist dictatorship, after which he sought refuge in the American embassy in Budapest. The Chief Prosecutor's Office ultimately rehabilitated Mindszenty in 2012 thanks to Erdő's intervention.^[17] In 2006, he sent a letter of gratitude to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 50th anniversary of Cardinal Mindszenty's forced arrest because of the political support that Americans had given to Mindszenty at the time.^[18]

During a Vatican press conference in October 2014, Erdő expressed opposition to the idea of allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Holy Communion.^[19]

During the 2015 European migrant crisis, Erdő said that taking in refugees would amount to human trafficking.^[20][21]

Erdő has written about the special socio-economic conditions of the Romani people and has openly wondered on the correct way to evangelize them.^[22]

Erdő has focused on Hungary's need to restore its faith and hope, while celebrating Midnight Mass at St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest, to mark the Christmas holiday.^[23]

In his 1989 monograph,«Ministerium, munus et officium in Codice Iuris canonici», he argued that the three Latin terms, "ministerium", "munus" and "officium" had distinct meanings in the Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1983..^[24]

• "Erdő Card. Péter". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
• Cardinal Erdő bio