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Ladislav Nemet

The native form of this personal name is Német László. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
His Eminence

Ladislav Nemet

S.V.D.
Cardinal, Metropolitan Archbishop of Belgrade
Német in 2009
ChurchRoman Catholic
ArchdioceseBelgrade
Appointed5 November 2022
PredecessorStanislav Hočevar
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Stella Maris (2024–)
Previous post(s)Bishop of Zrenjanin (2008–22)
Orders
Ordination1 May 1983
by Matiša Zvekanović
Consecration5 July 2008
by Péter Erdő
Created cardinal7 December 2024
by Pope Francis
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born (1956-09-07) 7 September 1956 (age 68)
Odžaci, FPR Yugoslavia
NationalitySerbian
Coat of armsLadislav Nemet's coat of arms

Ladislav Nemet SVD (Serbian Cyrillic: Ладислав Немет, Hungarian: Német László; born 7 September 1956) is a Serbian-born ethnic-Hungarian[1] prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has worked in Serbia as Archbishop of Belgrade since November 2022 and before that as the Bishop of Zrenjanin[a] from 2008 to 2022. He is a member of the Society of the Divine Word (Verbites). He was made a cardinal on 7 December 2024 by Pope Francis.

Before becoming a bishop he was educated and filled positions in several countries, studying in Poland and Rome, working as a missionary and pastor in the Philippines, teaching and collaborating on the Vatican's diplomatic efforts in Austria, doing pastoral work and teaching in Croatia, and then taking on several assignments in Hungary. He has credited his time in Catholic countries such as Poland and the Philippines with strengthening him for work in his episcopal assignments where he is part of a religious minority.[2] He has been the President of the International Episcopal Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius since 2016.

Biography

Early years and career

Ladislav Nemet was born on 7 September 1956 in Odžaci, then in the People's Republic of Serbia, Yugoslavia,[3] into a family of ethnic Hungarians, a significant group in the multi-ethnic Vojvodina Province; Nemet refers to himself as a Hungarian.[4][b] His role models were a local priest and an uncle who was secretly a Verbite in Hungary under the Communists, who recommended the order as a path to broader experience, telling Nemet that "a diocese is too small for you".[5]

He attended the secondary school Gymnasium Paulinum in Subotica from 1971 to 1976. He joined the Society of the Divine Word, completed his studies in philosophy and theology in Pieniezno, Poland, and there took his perpetual vows on 8 September 1982.[3] He received his master's degree from the Catholic University of Lublin on 7 April 1983. He was ordained a priest in Odžaci on 17 April 1983.[3][6] He spent his first two years as a priest doing pastoral work in Croatia.[7]

He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1985 to 1987.[6] While there he worked in a parish in Fiumicino and was thrilled to experience a parish of young people with an average age of 35 and with many active community groups of a sort unknown in Yugoslavia.[5] He worked as a missionary in the Philippines and a chaplain at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City from 1987 to 1990,[6][8] He later said he learned how the shortage of priests meant that "the laity do much more for the church than the official structures", something "incomprehensible" to Europeans who are "bishop and priest focused".[5]

He returned to Rome and obtained a doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Gregorian in 1994. He then moved to Austria, where he held the following positions: professor of theology in Mödling, prefect of St. Gabriel's parish there, and assistant in a nearby parish; collaborator of the Mission of the Holy See in Vienna at the Office of the United Nations and specialized agencies from 2000 to 2004, serving at the same time as professor of theology in Zagreb.[3][6]

He was provincial of the Hungarian Province of the Verbites from February 2004 to May 2007.[7] During that time he dealt successfully with health problems, including "deep vein thrombosis and lung disease".[9] In July 2006 he became Secretary General of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference and taught missiology at the Sapientia College of Theology for Religious Orders in Budapest.[3] During his years in Hungary, he worked as a pastor and celebrated Mass in the Croatian language for members of the Balkan diaspora.[10] In addition to Hungarian and Serbian, he speaks English, German, Polish, Italian and Croatian.[3]

Bishop

On 23 April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named him bishop of Zrenjanin in Serbia.[3][c] He received his episcopal consecration on 5 July 2008 from Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Budapest, with Archbishop Juliusz Janusz, Apostolic Nuncio to Hungary, and Bishop László Huzsvár, his predecessor in Zrenjanin, as co-consecrators.[11] The service was conducted principally in Hungarian; the other languages used were Bulgarian, Croatian, German, and Latin.[12] Though this meant returning to the region of his birth in Serbia, he said he felt no attachment to it after 33 years away and could happily work anywhere.[5]

Nemet's diocese had an aging population aging that was also declining through emigration. He organized the scattered Catholics into a reduced number of parishes with elected parish councils. By 2017 they were staffed by 24 priests who offered Mass in 72 places. Still, confirmations fell from 320 in 2009 to 230 in 2017, when the ratio of baptisms to funerals reached 9 to 14. Nemet focused on multiplying parish activities, guaranteeing that small communities were included, and making personal interaction a priority. He said: "I think it is important for people to feel that they are not living their lives behind God's back." His assessment after almost ten years was that cooperation between clergy and laity remained weak, some clergy continued "feudal patterns", and the laity, still "almost invisible", needed to have their role strengthened.[2] He also organized a diocesan synod between 2017 and 2021, well before Pope Francis—Nemet later pointed out—undertook his program for synods throughout the Church.[4][5]

In December 2018, Nemet issued a letter about couples living in "unregulated relationships", that is, without the benefit of sacramental marriage. After explaining the origins of marriage and its role in childbearing and instruction in the faith, he affirmed God's love for families "in every wounded situation". He continued: "There are also our fellow human beings who do not consider sacramental marriage important, but who live together and live together as a family in a social sense. We ask them to try to discover the greatness and beauty of sacramental marriage, with all its joy, and to live this opportunity of God's love." Considering those who are divorced and remarried, whose lives are "marked by wounds, fractures and the courageous commitment to a new beginning", he quoted Pope Francis' Amoris laetitia: "God's grace is at work in their lives, giving them the courage to do good, to care for one another with love, and to be at the service of the community in which they live and work." He concluded by urging such couples to have the courage to consult a pastor about access to Communion, permitted in "special cases, under strict conditions".[13][d]

He is president of the International Episcopal Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius, which comprises Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia, elected in 2016[14] and re-elected in 2021.[15] In that role he participated as a delegate in the Synod of Bishops on Synodality in 2023[16] and 2024.[17]

Throughout the winter of 2019/20 he sought medical attention for help with "burnout and depression". He said the experience left him less focused on perfectionism and more frank in conversation, to the astonishment of his priests.[5]

Archbishop and cardinal

On 5 November 2022, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Belgrade.[15] He was installed there on 10 December.[9][18] He continued as apostolic administrator of Zrenjanin until the installation of his successor.[9]

He was elected one of the two vice-presidents of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE) on 25 September 2021.[19]

Assessing a pan-European synod in February 2023, he praised the Germans for their theological tradition and international mission work, declining to criticize their approach to synodality. He noted that their concerns were widely shared, if differently expressed, by other national synods, including those of eastern Europe, which underscored "the tension between pastoral care and teaching" with respect to the status of women in the Church and exclusions based on sexual orientation. He said: "We need to see the suffering person behind every path of life and how much suffering we ourselves cause to people when we hate." Asked specifically about the LGBT community, he said: "I do not understand what we lose if we finally begin to experience without fear the infinite and overflowing, unimaginable love of God for each person." He added that gender theory "is based on real scientific results", it is "now a generally accepted medical fact that not all people are born male or female", that some experience "emotional or hormonal states that differ from the physiological reality that characterizes women and men", and that "these people are children of God just like you or me".[20][e]

On 6 October 2024, Pope Francis announced that he planned to make Nemet a cardinal on 8 December,[21] a date that was later changed to 7 December.[22] He is the first person from Serbia to be named to the College of Cardinals.[23] He said he thought Pope Francis chose him for his commitment to the synodal process, noting that he had held a diocesan synod in Zrenjanin "before Covid...even before the Pope started the synodal renewal of the universal church".[4] He also recognized that there would be political reactions to his appointment in the Serbian and Croatian press, both favorable and critical.[4]

On 7 December 2024, Pope Francis made him a cardinal, assigning him as a member of the order of cardinal priests the title of Santa Maria Stella Maris in Lido di Ostia (Rome).[24]

Notes

  1. ^ Hungarian-language sources identify Zrenjanin as "Nagybecskerek".
  2. ^ A Hungarian interviewer referred to him as "a Hungarian cardinal, who is one of the pastors serving in another country, Serbia" and in replying Nemet said "I serve in Belgrade as a Hungarian".[4] A Hungarian publication claimed him with the headline "College of Cardinals Expands With Hungarian Cardinal".[1]
  3. ^ The Diocese was erected in 1986 and Nemet became its third bishop.
  4. ^ The requirements to be met at the outset, he wrote, were "that the couples have been living together for a long time, leading an exemplary life, and that faith and ecclesial community life are important to them".[13]
  5. ^ Asked to summarize his life's mission, Nemet said he worked "so that people do not divide,... do not hurt each other, regardless of what anyone thinks, believes, what their skin color or gender identity is, and in the process find God in their lives".[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Dalma, Jánosi (9 December 2024). "College of Cardinals Expands With Hungarian Cardinal". Magyar Nemzet. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  2. ^ a b Nemet, Ladislav (19 December 2017). "Német László nagybecskereki püspök: Az Egyház sikeressége nem a struktúrákon múlik" [Bishop László Német of Nagybecskerek: The success of the Church does not depend on structures]. Magyar Kurír (Interview) (in Hungarian). Interviewed by István Kuzmányi. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Rinunce e Nomine, 23.05.2008" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e Nemet, Ladislav (28 October 2024). "László Német: My nomination as cardinal may be related to my commitment to the synodal renewal of the Church". Megújul (Interview). Interviewed by István Gégény. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Nemet, Ladislav (18 December 2021). "Német László püspök: Nagyon fontos beszélni arról, ami történik velünk". Nőileg (Interview). Interviewed by Gagyi Katinka. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d "Mons. Dr. Ladislav Nemet, Beogradski Nadbiskup i Metropolit". Archdiocese of Belgrade (in Croatian). Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Német László a Nagybecskereki Egyházmegye püspöke". Hungarian Catholic Bishops Conference (in Hungarian). 23 April 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  8. ^ "Serbia's first cardinal was 'very much loved' chaplain at Cebu university". Rappler. October 10, 2024. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
  9. ^ a b c "Mons. Ladislav Nemet liturgijskim činom preuzeo službu beogradskog nadbiskupa i metropolita" [Mons. Ladislav Nemet took over the office of Belgrade Archbishop and Metropolitan in a liturgical rite]. Katolička tiskovna agencija Biskupske konferencije Bosne i Hercegovine (in Croatian). 13 December 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Nadbiskup Ladislav Nemet: Prvi sveštenik iz Srbije uzdignut u zvanje kardinala" [Archbishop Ladislav Nemet: First priest from Serbia elevated to the rank of cardinal] (in Croatian). Radio-televizija Vojvodine. 7 December 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  11. ^ "Püspökké szentelték Német Lászlót". eredetimiep.hu (in Hungarian). 6 July 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  12. ^ "Zrenjaninska biskupija dobila novog biskupa" [The Diocese of Zrenjanin has a new bishop]. Hrvatska riječ (in Croatian). 18 July 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Püspöki körlevél az egyházilag nem rendezett viszonyban élő házastársakkal kapcsolatban" [Episcopal circular regarding spouses living in an ecclesiastical disordered relationship]. Diocese of Zrenjanin (in Hungarian). 30 December 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Përfundon Asambleja e 38-të e Konferencës Ipeshkvnore të Shenjtorëve Cirili e Metodi" [The 38th Assembly of the Episcopal Conference of Cyril and Methodius ends]. Vatican News (in Albanian). 2 June 2021.
  15. ^ a b "Resignations and Appointments, 05.11.2022" (Press release). Holy See Press Office. 5 November 2022. Retrieved 7 October 2024.
  16. ^ "16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, 07.07.2023". Holy See Press Office. 7 July 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  17. ^ "Synod24 – 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops – Second Session – List of participants according to title of participation (16 September 2024), 16.09.2024". Holy See Press Office. 16 September 2024. Retrieved 3 January 2025.
  18. ^ "László Német, the new archbishop of the Belgrade Archdiocese, was installed". Roman Catholic Diocese of Nagybecskerek (in Hungarian). 11 December 2022. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  19. ^ "Vice President H. Em. Card. Ladislav Nemet, S.V.D." CCEE. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  20. ^ a b Nemet, Ladislav (21 February 2023). "Német László SVD: Szeretnénk, ha az egyház mindenkinek otthona lenne, és nem közösítenénk ki embereket" [László Német SVD: We would like the church to be a home for everyone, and we would not excommunicate people]. Zarándok (Interview) (in Hungarian). Interviewed by Arnold Harasztovics. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  21. ^ "Annuncio di Concistoro l'8 dicembre per la creazione di nuovi Cardinali, 06.10.2024" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 6 October 2024. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  22. ^ Brockhaus, Hannah (12 October 2024). "Vatican Shares Pope Francis' Schedule for December Consistory to Create Cardinals". National Catholic Register. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
  23. ^ "Belgrade Archbishop Nemet to be appointed first Cardinal from Serbia". N1. 7 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  24. ^ "Concistoro Ordinario Pubblico: Assegnazione dei Titoli e delle Diaconie ai nuovi Cardinali, 07.12.2024" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 7 December 2024. Retrieved 8 December 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.Wik.ipedia.Pro.org/w/index.php?title=Ladislav_Nemet&oldid=1267601183"

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