When the Pope dies or resigns, the new head of the Catholic Church is elected in a conclave by cardinal electors, that is, those under 80 years of age.

Although Poland has the most cardinal electors among Central European countries, the Ostrihom-Budapest archbishop Péter Erdő is being mentioned more and more in connection with a possible successor to Francis.

The youngest cardinal at the conclave

Péter Erdő was born in 1953 in Budapest. He comes from six children. He completed his high school studies at the Piarist Gymnasium in Budapest. After graduation, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in June 1975, i.e. at the age of 22. After his ordination, he worked as a chaplain for two years and at the same time continued his studies, and in 1976 he received a doctorate in theology.

In 1980, he received a doctorate in canon law from the Utriusque Iuris Institute of the Pontifical Lateran University. Between 1980 and 1986, he was a teacher at the Ostrihom Archbishop Institute for the Education of Priests.

From 1986 to 1988, he was a professor at the Gregorian University in Rome and also worked as a teacher at the Peter Pázmaň University in Budapest, where he taught church law. At the same time, he worked at the church court. Today, Péter Erdő is a recognized church lawyer.

In January 2000, he was in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome by Pope John Paul II. ordained as a bishop and worked as an auxiliary bishop in the diocese of Stolichny Belgrade. In January 2003, he became archbishop in Ostrichom and Budapest, and in November of the same year, the Polish Pope appointed him a cardinal.

It is interesting that Erdő became a cardinal relatively early, at the age of 51. Currently, the youngest cardinal in the world is Giorgio Marengo, the apostolic administrator in Ulabantar, Mongolia, who became a cardinal at the age of 47 and is the youngest cardinal appointed this century. Karol Wojtyła also became a cardinal at the same age.

At the age of 52, Erdő was the youngest cardinal at the conclave in 2005, where the cardinals elected Benedict XVI as Pope. Eight years later, when Francis was elected, there were only five cardinals younger than the archbishop of Budapest at the conclave.

From 2006 to 2016, the Hungarian primate was also the chairman of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). He served in this service for two terms.

Vaticanist John L. Allen Jr. in his article for the National Catholic Reporter , he discusses why Archbishop Erdő could be the next pope.

Allen notes that there is a lot of talk these days of a “Third World” pope, but if a conclave were to take place, cardinals from Europe would still have the upper hand. According to him, the election of a pope “from this long-neglected corner of Europe may seem as bold as the election of a pope from Argentina.”

Cardinal Erdő represents the church persecuted during the Soviet era, symbolized by the figure of Cardinal József Mindszenty, who was tortured and later sentenced to life imprisonment. Cardinal Mindszenty then took refuge in the American Embassy in Budapest for 15 years and died in exile in Vienna in 1975. It was Erdő who convinced the Hungarian government to drop the case against Mindszenty, which had been filed in 1949.

At the same time, Hungary is a country where, due to its location, East meets West, and Erdő is a leader in building relations between Catholics and Orthodox churches. Since many cardinal electors consider ecumenism a high priority, this plays into the cards of the Hungarian primacy, which strives for good relations with the Jews as well.

In addition, Erdő is also considered a trustworthy person in Vatican circles. In 2011, he was appointed a member of the Council of Cardinals and Bishops, which oversees the very important second section of the Secretariat of State responsible for the Vatican’s diplomatic relations.

That same year, he was sent by the Vatican to lead an investigation into the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, which was accused of violating church teaching and discipline.

Hungarian bishops and priests during a thanksgiving pilgrimage in Rome in April 2024. Cardinal Erdő, lower right.

The advantage of the Hungarian cardinal is that he speaks Italian fluently, which the future pope should know. Some sources say that he knows up to six languages, including Russian.

According to Allen, Erdõ is perceived as a conservative who does not have a problem even with the pre-conciliar form of the mass, but at the same time he is also respected by more liberal circles within the church.

At the same time, they consider the cardinal to be pastoral. For example, many bishops were interested in his description of urban missions. During them, lay people visit the homes of Catholics in a given parish and invite the people who live there back to church.

Relations with African bishops and a conservative reputation

However, everything mentioned so far would not be enough if the candidate for the pope did not have the support and sympathy of the other cardinals who choose the pope.

Erdő could have solid support from the developing world in a possible conclave. In the position of the head of European bishops, he established cooperation with African bishops and started organizing meetings every two years, which are held alternately in Africa and Europe. This is also why, according to Allen, most cardinals from Africa know him and like him.

For Americans, he may be interesting because he has practical experience from the USA. Thanks to grants, he studied in 1995 and 1996 at the University of California, Berkeley.

His two terms as president of the European bishops’ conferences suggest he has solid support in the European bloc, and his good relations with Africans suggest he would be supported in the conclave if his candidacy for pope was on the cards. He could also count on the support of several cardinals from Latin America.

The second key point is that Erdő is seen as a person who is sufficiently forceful. This is apparently important in the current situation, when many cardinals are convinced that the next pope must bring the internal bureaucracy of the Vatican under control.

Thirdly, Erdő also has a good conservative reputation, but despite this, he is profiled as a mediator of compromises and consensus, thanks to which he was able to hold European bishops together.

Erdő also dealt with issues of social justice. In 2007, he expressed solidarity with the concerns of Latin American bishops about growing poverty and environmental destruction.

Reserved towards the media, rather a behind-the-scenes player

However, John Allen also notes three factors that, according to him, speak against the Hungarian archbishop.

Erdő has a pessimistic view of the relationship between the church and the wider culture. At the synod, he was critical of some media. He claimed that many of them presented the Christian faith and history as full of lies and misinformed the public about the content of the faith and the reality of the church.

Many wonder if this is the right tone for the future pope, who wants to reach out to the wider world.

Although some critical voices towards the Hungarian prelate appreciate that he is a good player behind the scenes, they say he lacks the dynamism on stage, which the future pope also needs. The Crux Now portal adds that “he is not the type of person who would light up the world with his smile”.

His young age could also be a problem for some voters if he were to become pope. Some cardinals may fear that a vote for Erdő will mean the possibility of too long a pontificate.

The last two popes were over eighty years old when they ended their pontificate, and Francis is also old. “Pope Erdő could thus rule the church for two decades,” states Crux Now.

The portal civilek-info has the opposite opinion , which writes that the church will be looking for someone who will have enough time for reforms, so cardinals under the age of 70 have the best chances.

The Catholic Herald even claims that Erdő’s name was mentioned in connection with the new pope as early as 2013.

According to the portal, at a time when Pope Francis was calling on Catholics to accept refugees, Erdő said that accepting refugees would be tantamount to human trafficking.

He notes that Erdő is seen as a reserved and sociable man with an almost genetic predisposition to stay out of the limelight. With his personality, he would be better suited to the role of secretary of state or another high-ranking post in the Vatican, rather than the public face of the church.

However, the portal adds that we are not living in completely normal times in the Catholic Church, and several cardinals may feel that after Francis’ changes and reforms, the church will need to take a breath and calm down.

As in post-Trump American politics, “boring can become sexy,” writes Crux Now .

Erdő’s advantage may be the fact that he is a gifted ecclesiastical lawyer, which may come together after the pontificate of Francis.

“After the legislative frenzy under Francis, who issued more motu proprios, or amendments to church law, than all his recent predecessors combined, it may not be a bad thing to have someone who can consolidate and rationalize the legal system,” reports Crux Now .

According to the portal, the Hungarian bishop is of the right age to be able to effectively lead the church for some time, but he is not too young to make his pontificate seem like eternity.

In the current situation, Erdő could be a favorable candidate for the Ukrainians as well, since they have accepted a lot of refugees in Hungary, and at the same time he would be acceptable to the Russians. Metropolitan Hillarion, who until recently was the second man in the Moscow Patriarchate, works in the country.

Cardinal Erdő during the thanksgiving pilgrimage of Hungarians in the Vatican in April 2024.

However, some circles from the Vatican began to question Erdő’s chances for the papal throne even after the visit of Francis to Hungary in 2023.

The Pillar portal notes that the cardinal seemed very shy and deliberately avoided the media, which dealt with his relationship with the Hungarian government.

Cardinal Erdő has consistently emphasized his support for Pope Francis. The portal claims that even though his credit rose after the Pope’s visit to Budapest, some members of the Vatican press center labeled him conservative . According to some reports, he was the preferred candidate for Pope in the eyes of the late Australian Cardinal George Pell.

The cardinal also faced a little teasing from members of the Vatican media over the type of car that took him out of Budapest airport after escorting the pope.

Photos emerged, noting that while the head of the church was moving in a small white Fiat, the influential conservative archbishop Cardinal Erdő left the airport in a black Mercedes.

A key role at the Synod on the Family

The Hungarian primate also caught the attention of some Vaticanists a few weeks ago, when he led a group of 20,000 Hungarian pilgrims to the Pope, it was a thanksgiving pilgrimage for the visit of Francis last year.

European correspondent of the American National Catholic Register Solène Tadié introduced Cardinal Erdő in a profile article entitled Man of Unity and Bridge between East and West .

According to her, today the Hungarian cardinal is one of the few Catholic authorities who arouse the admiration of his colleagues and the interest of Catholic observers around the world.

“Nevertheless, he appears relatively little in the media and stays out of the controversies and power games that have often surrounded the church in recent years,” he notes, adding that he is one of the main “papabili” of the cardinals.

He devotes a considerable part of the text to the episode when Péter Erdő found himself in the role of general relator of the synod on the family that took place in 2014-2015.

NC Register recalls that it was then that the Ostrihom-Budapest archbishop gained a more international status, while various commentators praised him for his openness and sense of balance, while he did not compromise with the teachings of the church.

In his contribution at the opening of the synodal proceedings in October 2014, Erdő confirmed the central position of mercy in the “hermeneutics of church action”, while specifying that it “does not exclude or relativize the truth”, but “leads to its correct interpretation within the hierarchy of truth” and “does not exclude or the requirement of justice”.

The Church in Hungary It is not normal to remain silent all the time. The bishop attacked his colleagues for their attitude towards Orbán

Although many consider Erdő one of the more conservative figures in the College of Cardinals, his remarks in the early stages of the synod on the family drew criticism from some cardinals, including then-prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Gerhard Müller. 

Their point was that Erdő devotes too much space to demands that were related to the controversial issue of allowing civilly divorced and married Catholics to receive Holy Communion.

At the synod session in October 2015, Cardinal Erdő was the main speaker and, according to the NC Register, caused surprise and disappointed the expectations of some when he declared that “the integration of the divorced and remarried into the ecclesiastical community can be realized in various ways apart from admission to the Eucharist”.

“The overall impression I got at the end of the synodal discussions was that Cardinal Erdő is quite independent in his thinking; it was very clear that this man has great leadership skills and is not afraid to take positions that he believes in,” South African Cardinal Wilfrid Napier, Archbishop Emeritus of Durban, told the NC Register. He was also in charge of the family conference.

Today, people do not belong to the church out of convenience

When it comes to visions and leadership, Cardinal Erdő’s thinking was recently revealed by the Italian Vaticanist Andrea Gagliarducci. In an interview with ACI Stampa, the Hungarian prelate admits the true position of the church at the moment.

“We do not think according to the idea of ​​the ruling church, a category that lasted from the time of the Roman-Christian empire until the 20th century. We live in a much more modest position. However, we can also testify to our Christian faith and message in matters related to the fate of humanity,” said Erdő.

In response to the question of what steps can be taken in this regard, he recalled the efforts of the church in Hungary to make “gestures towards neighboring nations with which we have had conflicts and antagonisms in history.” Cardinal Erdő mentioned that, for example, in 2023, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Slovakia, Archbishop Bernard Bober, delivered a homily on the national holiday of St. Stephen, and this year, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Romania, Archbishop Aurel Percă, will preach.

“I believe that at the level of gestures and common thinking about human issues, we are very close to the Catholics of this region. It is not about direct politics, but about human rapprochement,” added Erdő.

Cardinal Erdő during the thanksgiving pilgrimage of Hungarians in the Vatican in April 2024.

When asked by a journalist about the Moscow Patriarch Kirill and his “holy war”, as he calls the conflict in Ukraine, Erdő chose a diplomatic answer. He spoke about the historical heritage, about the connection between the rulers of the Byzantine lands and the Orthodox churches. “At the same time, in the same context, we can identify elements that belong to the spirit of Christianity,” he said.

“After all, even during the Soviet era, in addition to its public functioning, the Orthodox Church managed to preserve many spiritual and religious values ​​amid all the difficulties,” the Hungarian cardinal noted.

Cardinal Erdő also commented on what problem he considers to be the most urgent at the moment.

“It’s a problem to think freely and use your freedom. In the midst of large waves of information and misinformation, which is also fed by the reality of social media, we have become accustomed not to think, but rather to react immediately,” he concluded.

And later he returned again to reflections on the form of the church today. “We live in a diaspora. Today, however, it can be a much more cohesive and stronger diaspora than the church that gathered people who believed and also people who belonged to it out of convenience.”

According to Cardinal Erdő, today people no longer belong to the church out of convenience. “They belong more and more because of personal cohesion, personal experience with faith and because of relations with the Catholic Christian community,” he added.