The CCEE expresses deep gratitude to the Holy Father who, in the Ordinary Public Consistory held on 7 December in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, looked benevolently upon the Church in Europe as no fewer than 8 European prelates were created Cardinals. Among the 21 new Cardinals, the CCEE Vice President, H. E. Msgr. Ladislav NEMET, S.V.D., Metropolitan Archbishop of Belgrade (Serbia), to whom Pope Francis assigned the Presbyteral title of Santa Maria Stella Maris.
“Today, in a particular way, I would like to say to you, dear brothers who are being made Cardinals: Make every effort to walk in the path of Jesus. What does this mean? To walk in the path of Jesus means above all to return to him and to put him back at the centre of everything. At times, in our spiritual lives and our pastoral activity, we risk focusing on what is incidental and forgetting what is essential” emphasised Pope Francis during his homily, urging the new Cardinals not to let themselves be dazzled by the allure of prestige, the seduction of power and appearance, but rather to keep the fundamental foothold of their entire lives on the true and only “cardinal point” who is Jesus.
The following day, 8 December, on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope Francis presided over Holy Mass in the Vatican Basilica with the new Cardinals.
H. Em. Card. Ladislav NEMET, S.V.D., Archbishop of Belgrade (Serbia), was born in Odžaci (Serbia) on 7 September1956. He attended secondary school at the Paulinum diocesan grammar school in Subotica from 1971 to 1976. He then joined the Society of the Divine Word and studied philosophy and theology in Pieniężno(Poland). He made his solemn profession on 8 September 1982, and the following 1 May 1983 was ordained a priest. From 1983 to 1985 he served in Yugoslavia. In 1985, he was sent to Rome for his studies, where in 1987, he received his doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.
From 1987 to 1994, he worked as a missionary in the Philippines within the field of university pastoral work. In 1994 he was transferred to Austria where he became professor of theology in Mödling, prefect in St Gabriel’s, assistant in a neighbouring parish, collaborator of the Holy See’s mission at the United Nations Office and Specialised Agencies in Vienna from 2000 to 2004, and professor of theology at the Jesuit Faculty of Theology in Zagreb.
From 2004 to 2007, he was provincial of the Hungarian province of his order, and in July 2006 he was elected secretary general of the Hungarian Bishops’ Conference. He also taught missiology at the Higher Institute of Theology for Religious ‘Sapientia’ in Budapest.
On 23 April 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Bishop of Zrenjanin (Serbia). He received episcopal ordination on 5 July 2008 from Cardinal Péter Erdő, Metropolitan Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest.
On 16 March 2016, he was elected president of the International Bishops’ Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius. He had previously been its Secretary General from April 2011 to 16 March 2016.
On 25 September 2021, he was elected Vice President of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE).
On 5 November 2022 Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Belgrade, where he took office on 10 December.
At the Angelus of 6 October 2024, Pope Francis announced the name of Archbishop NEMET in the list of the new cardinals for the Consistory of 7 December 2024, in which the CCEE Vice President was created Cardinal with the Presbyteral Title of Santa Maria Stella Maris.
Photo: Vatican Media