Cardinal Péter Erdő

Cardinal Péter Erdő, Metropolitan Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, was born in Budapest on 25 June 1952, the first of six children in a family of Catholic intellectuals. He was He was ordained a priest on on 18 June 1975, in Budapest. Between 1975-1977 he served in a parish in the city of Dorog. He obtained a doctorate in theology in 1976. Between 1977-1980 he studied at the Pontifical Lateran University’s Institutum Utriusque Iuris in Rome, at the end of which he obtained a doctorate in canon law (1980). Between 1980-1986 he was Professor of theology in Esztergom. From 1986 to 1988 he was a lecturer and from 1988-2002 visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University. From 1988 to 2002 he was Professor of canon law and from 1988 to 2003 Rector of the Péter Pázmány Catholic University. From 1996 to 2003 he was also Dean of the post-graduate Canon Law Institute. During his term as rector, the Péter Pázmány University gained pontifical status and opened a new faculty of information technology. On 5 November 1999, he was nominated by John Paul II titular Bishop of Puppi and Auxiliary of Székesfehérvár, receiving episcopal ordination on 6 January 2000. On 7 December 2012, Pope John Paul II transferred him to the Metropolitan See of Esztergom-Budapest, appointing him Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, and Primate of Hungary. In 2005 he was elected President of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference, and was re-elected in 2010 for another five-year mandate, until 2015. In 2006 he was elected President of the Council of the Bishop's Conferences of Europe (Ccee), and re-elected in 2011, presiding until 7 October 2016. He participated in city missions in the great European cities (Vienna, Paris, Lisbon, Brussels and Budapest). He was one of the initiators and one of the two co-presidents of the Catholic-Orthodox European Forum. Since 2003 he has participated in all the assemblies of the Synod of Bishops, including those devoted to Africa (2009) and the Middle East (2010).