Archbishop Banach to represent Pope in Hungary

By Margaret M. Russell
The Catholic Free Press


Auburn native Archbishop Michael W. Banach will be moving from western Africa to central Europe this summer to start his new post as papal ambassador to Hungary. The current geo-political situation caused by the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine will be one of the challenges he said he will be facing.
Earlier this month Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Banach, 59, a priest of the Diocese of Worcester, as apostolic nuncio in Hungary. The announcement was published in the Daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office on May 3.
“Although I knew I would be transferred from Senegal, Hungary came as a surprise. I am excited,” Archbishop Banach said in an email from Dakar, the capital of Senegal.
“The new apostolic nuncio is asked to arrive in his new country within two months of the publication of his appointment. Hence, I will probably leave Dakar for Budapest at the end of June or the beginning of July,” he said.
Archbishop Banach has been serving as apostolic nuncio in Senegal, Cabo Verde, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania since 2016. Prior to that he was nuncio to Papua New Guinea for three years. He has been in the Vatican diplomatic service since 1994.
“My ministry in Hungary will be similar to what I, as apostolic nuncio, have been doing in other countries: seeking to strengthen the bonds of communion that exist between the local church and the Apostolic See; working closely with the conference of bishops; promoting ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue, etc.,” he said.
Bishop McManus said that Archbishop Banach called him at the time of his appointment to let him know that he was being moved to Hungary.
“For years he has had important assignments in the diplomatic corps. As a nuncio he has had very important assignments, first in Papua New Guinea and then in Senegal, during the pandemic,” Bishop McManus said.
“The transfer to Hungary is a huge responsibility and a sign of the Holy Father’s confidence in his diplomatic abilities,” the bishop said.
A nuncio is also charged with fostering relations between the Holy See and the government authorities, Archbishop Banach explained.
“In this sense, like other ambassadors, I will be presenting my credential letters, signed by Pope Francis accrediting me to the Magyar Nation, to the president of Hungary, Mrs. Katalin Nowak,” he said. (Hungarians are also known as Magyars, an ethnic group native to the country.)
A 2020 U.S. Department of State “Report on International Religious Freedom: Hungary” says that the U.S. government estimates the total population of the country at 9.8 million. It goes on to say that “according to the 2011 national census, which included an optional question on religious affiliation, of the 73 percent of the population that responded, 51 percent identified as Roman Catholic.”
When asked about the state of Catholicism in Hungary, Archbishop Banach said, “Catholicism is vibrant in Hungary, a country that, throughout the centuries, has remained faithful to the Holy Father. St. Stephen I of Hungary, the first King of Hungary, enshrined Christianity and Catholicism in the national fabric.”
For an example of a witness to the Christian faith, Archbishop Banach pointed to the life of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty. Ordained shortly after World War II, he staunchly resisted the fascist and later Communist governments that ruled Hungary, according to a posting about him on the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training website. “His fierce opposition to the new regime led to his arrest on December 26, 1948; he was accused of treason and conspiracy.”
“Today, Eastern-rite Catholics, Orthodox, Calvinists and Lutherans are present in the country, but the strength of the Christian faith and witness remains evident,” Archbishop Banach said.
Judaism and Islam are also represented in the religious affiliations of the Hungarian citizens, he noted.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban made the Vatican his first visit outside of the country after his party won re-election in early April. At a private audience with Pope Francis, the Holy Father reportedly thanked Prime Minister Orban for Hungary’s generous receiving of Ukrainian refugees as a result of the war.
“So, the current geo-political situation will also be one of the challenges facing me,” Archbishop Banach commented. 
Michael W. Banach, the son of Wallace and Jane Banach, grew up in Auburn and the family attended Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in Worcester. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at the College of the Holy Cross, then studied for the priesthood at the North American College in Rome. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Timothy J. Harrington on July 2, 1988, in St. Paul Cathedral. He served as associate pastor at St. Anne Parish in Shrewsbury before beginning studies in Rome in 1992 at the Gregorian University and earned a doctorate in Canon Law in 1994.
He joined the Vatican diplomatic service following his studies in Rome. He was named a chaplain to his holiness, which carries the title of monsignor, in 1996 by Pope John Paul II and later named a prelate of honor in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI. He served in Bolivia and Nigeria and worked in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria as desk officer for Central Europe for the Vatican Secretary of State.
Before being named a nuncio, he was a permanent representative of the Holy See to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization in Vienna, Austria.
In February 2013 Pope Benedict appointed then Msgr. Banach as titular archbishop of Memphis, Egypt, at the same time assigning him the office of apostolic nuncio. Pope Francis ordained him a bishop with the title archbishop on April 27, 2013.