The Catholic Church in Hungary or Hungarian Catholic Church ( hu, Magyar Katolikus Egyház) is part of the worldwide

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, under the spiritual leadership of the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. According to a 2019 survey by

Eurobarometer Eurobarometer is a series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the European Commission and other EU Institutions since 1973. These surveys address a wide variety of topical issues relating to the European Union throughout i ...

, 62% of Hungarians consider themselves Catholics. The country is divided into 12

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associa ...

s including 4 archdioceses. In addition, there is a

territorial abbey A territorial abbey (or territorial abbacy) is a particular church of the Catholic Church comprising defined territory which is not part of a diocese but surrounds an abbey or monastery whose abbot or superior functions as ordinary for all Ca ...

and a separate

sui juris ''Sui iuris'' ( or ) also spelled ''sui juris'', is a Latin phrase that literally means "of one's own right". It is used in both secular law and the Catholic Church's canon law. The term church ''sui iuris'' is used in the Catholic '' Code of Ca ...

particular Church In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars. Particulars are often seen as concrete, spatiotemporal entities as opposed to a ...

for those who adhere to the Byzantine Rite known as the Hungarian Greek Catholic Church.

History

From early times to the accession of St. Stephen (997)

Since the early times the territory of the former

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

were inhabited by many peoples followed by several waves of migrations until the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin. At about the same time, under their leader

Árpád Árpád (; 845 – 907) was the head of the confederation of the Magyar tribes at the turn of the 9th and 10th centuries. He might have been either the sacred ruler or '' kende'' of the Hungarians, or their military leader or '' g ...

( 845 – 907), they began once more expeditions to the countries west of them in order to recon the neighboring environments and secure their newly founded realm; these forays, which went as far as

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, were continued under

Zoltán Zoltán () is a Hungarian masculine given name. The name days for this name are 8 March and 23 June in Hungary, and 7 April in Slovakia. Zoltána is the feminine version. Notable people * Zoltán of Hungary * Zoltan Bathory, guitarist of heavy ...

(907-47), and Taksony (947-72), and did not cease until the land was converted to Catholicism in the reign of

Géza Géza is a Hungarian given name and may refer to any of the following: * Benjamin Géza Affleck * Géza, Grand Prince of the Hungarians * Géza I of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza II of Hungary, King of Hungary * Géza, son of Géza II of Hungar ...

. In 954, by the siege of the

Gembloux Abbey Gembloux Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Wallonia near the town of Gembloux in the province of Namur, Belgium. Since 1860, its buildings host the University of Liège's Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech faculty and campus (previously known as Agronomical U ...

, St. Guilbert entered to the unarmed resting Hungarians while the other part of their army was fighting. The Hungarians listened to him and more of them were baptized and accepted the religion. However, by the captives as well many Christians get among Hungarians. Their defeats near

Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a dioces ...

, in 933, and on the Lech, in 955, put an end to these western expeditions. As a result of the eastern campaigns

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s and missionaries could arrive into the south, southeast of the

Carpathian basin The Pannonian Basin, or Carpathian Basin, is a large Sedimentary basin, basin situated in south-east Central Europe. The Geomorphology, geomorphological term Pannonian Plain is more widely used for roughly the same region though with a somewh ...

. In Constantinopole, many Hungarian leaders could have been baptized, as the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

tried to oblige them with generous gifts, titles or acted as a godfather in order to make them to accept the faith. Especially,

Gyula II Gyula II was a Hungarian tribal leader in the middle of the 10th century. He visited Constantinople, where he was baptized. His baptismal name was Stephen. Life He descended from a family whose members held the hereditary title '' gyula'', which ...

and Bulcsú was baptized. The first known Byzantine monk was Hierotheos who was invited by Gyula and were allowed to maintain

proselytism Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries. Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...

in the territories ruled by him in

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

, though not any

ecclesiastic {{Short pages monitor