The President of the Republic of Hungary, Dr. Tamás Sulyok, held the customary New Year reception for the diplomatic corps on 16th January. HE Dr. Heinz Anton Hafner, Ambassador of the Sovereign Order of Malta to Hungary, attended the reception.
In 1925, the Grand Master of the Order, Fra' Galeazzo von Thun und Hohenstein, appointed Count Jenő Karátsonyi, who at the time belonged to the Order's Austrian Grand Priorate, as first Ambassador Extraordinary to Hungary. It was Jenő Karátsonyi who paved the way for the Order of Malta to authorise the creation of a Hungarian national association in 1928. The Hungarian Order of Malta celebrated the centenary at the invitation of H.E. Ambassador Dr. Heinz Anton Hafner, on 10th April at the Church of the Holy Name of the Virgin Mary in Solymár, where Count Jenő Karátsonyi is buried. Mass was celebrated by Archbishop Michael W. Banach, Apostolic Nuncio.
The Holy See's Secretary for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, met representatives of the diplomatic corps on 29th March, on the occasion of a visit to Hungary. The Ambassador of S.M.O.M., Dr Heinz Anton Hafner, was present at the event and had the opportunity for a lengthy exchange of views with the high-level Vatican diplomat.
Budapest, March 27, 2025: Archbishop Michael W. Banach, Apostolic Nuncio to Hungary, has been received into the Order as Conventual Chaplain ad honorem Grand Cross in gremio religionis. HMEH the Grand Master John Dunlap delegated the President of the MMLSZ, Kristóf Szabadhegÿ, to preside the induction ceremony, which was held in the chapel of the house of the Order in Budapest, in the presence of HE Ambassador Dr. Heinz Anton Hafner.
