Cardinal Péter Erdö: a life for the unity of the Christian peoples of Europe
PHOTO: Manuel Castells
The Hungarian Cardinal Péter Erdö was awarded an honorary doctor by the University of Navarra in an academic ceremony held on Thursday, October 27, 2011. The ceremony was presided over by the Chancellor of the center Monsignor Javier Echevarría.
Cardinal Péter Erdö is an important figure in the Catholic Church, not only in Hungary but also in European society and in the world today. He is Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Primate of the Church in Hungary and President of the Hungarian Episcopal lecture . He is also the president of the committee the European Episcopal Conferences; and at the age of 51 he became the youngest cardinal of the high school of Cardinals.
The Cardinal has always been able to combine the defense of the separation between Church and State, and at the same time, a mutualpartnership in the solution of common causes. Péter Erdö draws a vital trajectory in favor of concord, peace and union among the Christian peoples of Europe. Aware of the important role of Christianity in the shaping of Europe and in the life of nations, especially his own, Hungary.
An expert in Canon Law, he has developed at the same time an enormous research activity, which has been manifested in the publication of 20 books and more than 200 articles. He is a singularly complete canonist, with legal production in practically all fields.
Canon Law Expert
Bishop Péter Erdö (Budapest, 1952) was educated at the seminaries of Esztergom and Budapest, and received his doctorate in Theology and Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University (Rome). In 1975 he was ordained a priest and became a vicar in Dorog. Subsequently, he continued his programs of study in Rome (1977-1980) and for the next eight years, he was a professor of Theology and Canon Law at the Esztergom seminar , and gave numerous lectures at foreign universities. In 1988 he joined the Pázmány Péter Catholic University (Hungary), where he has served as President (1998-2003) and, since 2005, as Chancellor.
Erdö has also served in the Hungarian Episcopal lecture as secretary of the Canon Law Commission (1986) and as president (1999). In the same year he was appointed titular bishop of Puppi and auxiliary bishop of Székesfehérvár.
President of the European Bishops
After being consecrated in 2000 by Pope John Paul II, he was appointed Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest (2002), received the degree scroll of Primate of Hungary and was erected Cardinal of St. Balbina (2003). He participated as an elector in the Conclave of 2005, in which Pope Benedict XVI was elected. He is also a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 2007.
The cardinal was appointed president of the Hungarian Episcopal lecture (2005) and president of the committee European Bishops' Conferences (2006), a position in which he was renewed in 2011 for another five years. In the Roman Curia he is a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education , the Pontifical committee for Legislative Texts and the Tribunal of the Apostolic call number
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