H. E. Msgr. Ladislav Nemet, S.V.D.
H. E. Msgr. Ladislav Nemet, bishop of Zrenjanin (Serbia), was born in Odžaci 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.
He made his solemn profession on 8 September 1982, and the following 1 May was ordained a priest. From 1983 to 1985 he served in Yugoslavia. In 1985, he was sent to Rome for his studies. In 1987, he received his doctorate in dogmatic theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
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 and then 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. 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).