The Vatican will not consider a papal trip to Serbia—one of the few countries never to have been visited by a pope—without the green light from Russia. Such is the assurance of the first cardinal in the country's history, Ladislav Német, in an interview with I.MEDIA.
The 68-year-old archbishop of Belgrade, who became a cardinal on December 7, describes the challenges facing the small Catholic minority in his country, which is experiencing significant emigration. The dual Serbian-Hungarian national discusses Moscow's influence on the Serbian political class, and takes stock of the difficult fight against sexual abuse in Central Europe.
A polyglot and vice-president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE), this rising figure in the Catholic Church is strongly committed to a cultural change in Catholicism on the Old Continent. In this interview, he also talks about his ancestors, as well as his relations with Hungary and the hierarchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
A cardinal "in Serbia," not a "Serbian cardinal"
You are presented as the first Serbian cardinal in history. How has your cardinalate been received in Serbia?
Cardinal Ladislav Német: First of all, if I may make a clarification: in Serbia, the Catholic Church is a minority, and it is so in two ways: as an ethnic minority and as a religious minority. The majority of Serbs belong to the Orthodox Church, and by law, only the Serbian Orthodox Church has the right to use the adjective “Serbian.” As a Catholic, I'm not a “Serbian” cardinal, but a cardinal “in Serbia.” It's a subtlety that I try to explain even to the Vatican.
In my country, the news was greeted with a positive “explosion,” starting with Serbian Orthodox politicians and authorities. The president, the prime minister, and many other ministers congratulated me. For a month I was bombarded by interviews. I've become a “celebrity” as a cardinal, and the nation is very proud.
For a Church as small as ours in Serbia — we number 300,000, i.e. 4% of the population — this spotlight is a good thing. It has given us the opportunity to explain our situation, and also to mention certain issues that remain unresolved for our community.
What issues would you like to draw attention to?
Cardinal Német: There are still some outstanding issues, such as the restitution of property nationalized after the Second World War. The Communists appropriated almost everything: our schools, our buildings, our land. And we no longer have the support we used to have for the upkeep of our sacred buildings and the maintenance of our clergy.
Today, we survive partly on donations from the faithful, but for more important projects such as church restoration, we always have to ask for finance from abroad. It's our benefactors who keep us going. In Serbia, there's an inequality between the way the Orthodox Church is financed and the way other churches and religious groups—such as Islam, which also accounts for 4% of the population—are financed. We're all equal, but some more than others, as Orwell said; it's a truth in our world.
Relations with the Orthodox and Russia
How are relations with Orthodox leaders?
Cardinal Német: I have a very good relationship with the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Porphyry. We've known each other for 20 years, even before we became bishop and patriarch respectively. He's also from the region I come from, and grew up there. We also understand each other well on a human level.
Like Hungary, is Serbia today a potential point of contact between the West and the Russian sphere of influence?
Cardinal Német: Things are a bit different in Hungary, where there is no significant Slavic minority. Serbia has always had a strong feeling for Russia, which it sees as a big sister, including on a spiritual level with Orthodoxy. Serbia's Russophilia is also closely linked to its proximity to Greece. In fact, the Serbian Orthodox Church received its autocephaly from the Greeks. As I often say, within the Orthodox hierarchy, and among politicians, love for Russia is great. But among the population, nobody goes to Moscow to look for work, they go to the West.
The Hungarian connection
You’ve held various positions in Hungary, as head of the Hungarian province of your religious order and as General Secretary of the Hungarian Bishops' Conference. Could you be considered a second Hungarian cardinal?
Cardinal Német: Yes, absolutely. I received many messages of good wishes from Hungarian politicians, and they presented me as the second Hungarian cardinal. I have dual nationality. But I'm not a Hungarian citizen: I feel like a citizen of Serbia, and in my heart I also feel Hungarian. My family is part of the Hungarian minority that has lived in Serbia for 300 years. My ancestors arrived here in the 18th century as the first new inhabitants of the region liberated from the Ottomans.
Cardinal Peter Erdö and I have known each other for almost 40 years, and we have a friendly relationship. It was he who asked me to be general secretary of the bishops' conference when he was its president, which shows the trust that exists between us.
Ongoing challenges
What are the main challenges currently facing the Catholic Church in Serbia? Is Communist atheism still present in people's minds?
Cardinal Német: Thank God, although atheism as such is a present phenomenon, it has no influence on social or ecclesial life. Serbia as a society, with an almost 90% Orthodox majority, is experiencing a religious springtime. There’s an incredible increase in religiosity, with almost 70% of the population taking part in Sunday liturgical celebrations every week. When I take part in Orthodox celebrations, the churches are always full, and the average age is very young, under 40. This is a very positive phenomenon, which also affects the Catholic Church.
On the other hand, the biggest problem today is the emigration of our fellow citizens due to the economic situation and social insecurity. This is felt in the small Catholic minority: when I was ordained bishop in 2008, there were 400,000 of us; today there are 300,000. In 17 years, a quarter of the faithful have left the country. It's the most dynamic people, like young families, who are leaving. An ever-increasing number of elderly people find themselves alone in villages where everything is in short supply.
The problem of abuse
In your pastoral work, you call for a “change of culture” within the Church, particularly in the fight against abuse. Central Europe and the Balkans are still marked by a more traditional culture, more reluctant to bring these tragedies to light. How can this cultural change be achieved in this region?
Cardinal Német: The priority is to raise the bishops’ awareness throughout the region. There’s still a great fear of admitting our weakness, especially where respect for the clergy and “the holy hierarchy” is exaggerated and we fall into clericalism. The situation is changing, but unfortunately it's happening under social pressure and not thanks to the openness of the Church. It pains me that we are unable to act, but only to react.
Recently, Poland has made great strides, thanks in particular to the primate of Poland, Archbishop Wojciech Polak. I mention his name because he has done so much within the Bishops' Conference to combat abuse in Poland. This has earned him the hatred of some people. The Holy See has recently taken very strong action in dismissing Polish bishops who have not followed the directives.
In Hungary, last November, six bishops publicly apologized for mismanagement, and legal proceedings are underway. In Serbia, it's a little different, because as a minority, we have to follow the pace of the majority, and the Orthodox Church doesn't deal with this issue. The state is quite "tolerant" on this subject. In the 17 years I've been bishop, several cases have stalled in the court of justice for various reasons, such as lack of witnesses or the statute of limitations.
In my diocese, we have a structure for receiving complaints. We've had three cases. They resulted in the dismissal of a religious, the loss of a priest's clerical status, and a dismissal of the case because it was a matter of lack of prudence rather than abuse.
Strengthening unity in Europe through synodality
You are also vice-president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, an institution that brings together 39 bishops' conferences and covers the whole of Europe. What are your current priorities in this position?
Cardinal Német: This position keeps me very busy. I see my greatest responsibility as strengthening dialogue between the different countries. I speak 7 languages, so I can communicate with people in Poland, Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia. It's a gift from God that I want to put to good use.
How can we create a dynamic of unity between European countries with such diverse sensibilities as Germany, Poland, France, and the various Balkan countries?
Cardinal Német: I believe that the synodal process already underway is a very important foundation for a working methodology on the continent. Synodality is a way of communicating between different cultural regions. We can see that things are moving.
In Prague, at the continental meeting in March 2023, there was still a great fear of others. In August 2024, there was a meeting of European delegates in Linz (Austria), which I remember as a model of fraternal cohabitation. We were able to make great strides in bringing people together, and we want to continue to do so.
In the same spirit, 16 people from different parts of Europe are meeting again in Linz on February 3 and 4, at the Institute for Synodality founded within the Catholic University. We are 8 representatives from the East and 8 from the West. The agenda is to clarify the challenges of this working method in Europe, from a pastoral point of view. At the CCEE presidency, we are reflecting on the possibility of continuing this process at institutional level.
A papal visit?
You represent a region—the Western Balkans—to which the Holy See devotes a great deal of attention. Can we expect a papal visit to Serbia, which remains one of the last European countries ever visited by a pope? If the trip to Kosovo mentioned by the Pope in August 2023 becomes a reality, would the Serbian government and people accept it?
As a mere cardinal, I'm not in a position to criticize Pope Francis, but it doesn't seem possible to visit a country [Kosovo, editor's note] that isn’t officially recognized by the Holy See. This project seems hardly feasible. Does the request to visit first have to go through Kosovo or Belgrade? For Belgrade, Kosovo is just a province. Would it be a simple pilgrimage? That would be tricky, given that the Pope is also a political figure.
As for a trip to Serbia, it's not just decided in Serbia. As I hinted to a Serbian journalist, the decision will be taken further east, between Vladivostok and Belgrade. In more direct terms, without Moscow's permission, there will be no papal visit to Belgrade.
