The former bishop of Debrecen-Nyíregyháza, aged 62, has publicly defended marriage between a man and a woman, the family, and the transmission of life, and was part of the Hungarian episcopate that, following the publication of Fiducia supplicans, called for avoiding joint blessings of same-sex couples and couples in irregular situations.
The Holy See announced the appointment on Thursday, September 3, while also communicating that Leo XIV had accepted the resignation submitted by Monsignor Balázs Bábel from the pastoral governance of the archdiocese.
Palánki thus arrives at one of the metropolitan sees of the Church in Hungary after nearly eleven years leading Debrecen-Nyíregyháza, a diocese to which he was appointed by Francis on September 21, 2015. His episcopal career shows a special focus on the family and marriage, along with a long-standing dedication to priestly formation and Canon Law.
Marriage and the transmission of life
Palánki has defended on various occasions a conception of marriage founded on the union between a man and a woman and oriented toward the family and the transmission of life.
During the Week of Marriage held in 2022 in Nyíregyháza, in eastern Hungary, he maintained that marriage is of fundamental importance for “the future of humanity” and referred directly to Genesis: “A man leaves his father and mother, joins with his wife, and the two become one.”
The prelate then stated that marital love “is not simply a feeling,” but involves a decision and a commitment. He also explicitly linked marriage to the transmission of life and the continuity of generations.
This vision also appears in his interventions on the Holy Family. In December 2023, Palánki noted that the mission of spouses consists in helping each other to reach God and to love the children entrusted to them.
In an extensive interview given in 2021 to the media of his diocese, he also recalled the Catholic education he received during his childhood in Csesztve, a small town in northern Hungary. Palánki highlighted that he grew up in an environment where there were “clear and unequivocal” concepts about what marriage meant, what the place of children was, and what it meant to sacrifice oneself for others.
The Hungarian episcopate set limits on Fiducia supplicans
The new archbishop was also a member of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference when it responded in December 2023 to Fiducia supplicans, the declaration of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith that opened the possibility of imparting non-liturgical pastoral blessings to couples in irregular situations and of the same sex.
The response of the Hungarian bishops came on December 27, just nine days after the publication of the Vatican declaration. The Episcopal Conference began by recalling that Fiducia supplicans “does not change the faith and perennial teaching of the Catholic Church on marriage and sexual morality.”
The bishops noted that priests could individually bless any person who requested a blessing, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
However, they set a limit on the application of the document in Hungary: they called for “always avoiding the joint blessing” of couples living together without having contracted a valid marriage before the Church, of those in a marriage the Church considered invalid, and of same-sex couples.
In this way, the Hungarian episcopate ruled out that the possibility contemplated by Fiducia supplicans would translate in the country into blessings imparted jointly to these couples.
Canon Law, seminaries, and doctrine
The profile of the new archbishop is also marked by his canonical formation and by more than a decade dedicated to the formation of priests.
Palánki was born on March 11, 1964, in Balassagyarmat, in the Hungarian diocese of Vác. Before beginning his priestly formation, he studied technical subjects related to telecommunications. He later studied Philosophy and Theology in Esztergom and obtained a licentiate in Canon Law from the Catholic University of Budapest.
He was ordained a priest on June 18, 1994. After serving as a parochial vicar in Balassagyarmat and as a pastor in Dorogháza and Püspökszilágy, he began to assume responsibilities related to ecclesiastical justice and priestly formation.
From 1999 to 2010 he served as defender of the bond in the diocesan tribunal of Vác. Between 2005 and 2010 he served as spiritual director of the seminary of that diocese and later assumed the same responsibility at the Central Seminary of Budapest.
His career within the Hungarian Episcopal Conference has also been linked to the clergy, consecrated life, and doctrinal and legal matters. The curriculum released this Thursday by the Holy See indicates that he currently presides over the commissions for the Clergy and Consecrated Life, Legal Affairs, and Doctrine.
Benedict XVI incorporated him into the episcopate
Benedict XVI appointed Palánki titular bishop of Fidoloma and auxiliary of the archdiocese of Eger on December 27, 2010. He received episcopal ordination on February 26, 2011.
He later served as pastor of Miskolc-Mindszent and, between 2013 and 2015, as vicar general of the archdiocese of Eger. Francis appointed him bishop of Debrecen-Nyíregyháza on September 21, 2015.
During his episcopal stage, he has also had a notable presence in youth ministry. He represented the Hungarian bishops at the Synod of Bishops on Youth held in Rome in 2018 and participated in Francis’s meeting with thousands of young people during the Pope’s apostolic journey to Hungary in April 2023.
Palánki also supported the synodal process promoted during Francis’s pontificate, which he presented mainly in terms of communion, participation, evangelization, and listening to the Holy Spirit. After the 2018 Synod, he recalled Francis’s affirmation that a synod “is not a parliament.”
His episcopal activity has also taken place in a region with a significant Protestant presence. From Debrecen, one of the main historical centers of the Hungarian Reformed Church, he has participated in various ecumenical initiatives with Protestant and Greek-Catholic representatives.
Palánki now succeeds in Kalocsa-Kecskemét Balázs Bábel, who had been appointed coadjutor archbishop of this see by Saint John Paul II in 1999 and later assumed the governance of the archdiocese that same year.