page_title: Religion in Hungary
section_title: Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Hungary / Christianity
caption_attribution_description: English: Reliquary,King Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (c.1040–1095) XIV century Magyar: Szent László hermája
context_page_description: Historically, religion in Hungary has been dominated by forms of Christianity since the State's founding in the 11th century. Contemporary Hungary has no official religion. While the constitution "recognizes Christianity's nation-building role", freedom of religion is declared a fundamental right.
  According to the 2011 census, 39% of Hungarians are Catholic, 13.8% are Protestants, 1.9% have Other religions or denomination, 18.2% have no Religion, and 27.2% refused to answer.
context_section_description: The majority of Hungarians became Christian in the 11th century. Hungary's first king, Saint Stephen I, took up Western Christianity, although his mother Sarolt was baptized into Eastern Christianity. Hungary remained predominantly Catholic until the 16th century, when the Reformation took place and, as a result, first Lutheranism and then soon afterwards Calvinism became the religion of almost the entire population. Protestants composed some 85-90% of the entire population, more than a half of the Hungarian population being part of the Calvinist confessing Reformed Church and a quarter of lutheran confessing Evangelical Church.
  In the second half of the 16th century, however, the Catholic Habsburg Kings and Jesuits led a successful campaign of Counter-Reformation among the Hungarians. The Jesuits not only founded educational institutions, including Péter Pázmány Catholic University, the oldest university that still exists in Hungary, but also organized missions in order to promote popular piety.
  Using both political and apologetic efforts, most of the High Nobility composing the Diet was already predominantly Catholic by the 1640s, a process consolidated as the new reconquered estates were granted to the converted aristocracy, who supported in Counter-Reformation. Despite this, the lower nobility, the town burghers and the common people still retained a largely Protestant – specially Calvinist – identity, opposing the catholic German-likeness of the Habsburg courtly politics. Allied with the Constitutional Rights enforced by the Nobility and the military pressure of the Protestant Principality of Transylvania on the eastern border, Catholic Counter-Reformation achieved partial results compared to the other Habsburg-controlled possessions, like Bohemia and Austria, where Catholicism was restored to the status of the sole religion of the realm.
  Some of the eastern parts of the country, especially around Debrecen (nicknamed "the Calvinist Rome"), still have significant Protestant communities. The Reformed Church in Hungary is the second-largest church in Hungary with 1,153,442 adherents as of 2011. The church has 1,249 congregations, 27 presbyteries, and 1,550 ministers. The Reformed Church supports 129 educational institutions and has 4 theological seminaries, located in Debrecen, Sárospatak, Pápa, and Budapest.
  Lutheranism is the third main historical religion in Hungary. It was introduced by Saxon settlers in the early 16th century, but after its brief efflorescence, the introduction of the Reformed Church and the Counter-Reformation made it almost non-existent amongst Hungarians up to the late 17th century. Later it was re-introduced through inward migration by Saxons and Slovaks. Today, the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary is a small minority in Hungary today. Despite its relatively small number of adherents, it had a strong power and influence in internal politics since Hungary's independence from the strongly Catholic Habsburg Empire.
  The proportion of all Protestantism in Hungary has decreased from around 27% in the early 20th century to about 16% in the early 21st century. Eastern Orthodoxy in Hungary has been the religion mainly of certain national minorities in the country, notably Romanians, Rusyns, Ukrainians, and Serbs. Hungary has also been the home of a sizable Armenian Catholic community. They worship according to the Armenian Rite, but they have united with the Catholic Church under the primacy of the Pope. Some of the Armenians in Hungary are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was legally recognized in Hungary in June 1988 and its first meetinghouse in the country was dedicated in October of the following year by President Thomas S. Monson. In June 1990, the Hungary Budapest Mission was created, followed by the first stake in June 2006. The mission, its districts, and the Budapest Hungary Stake together contain twenty-two wards and branches serving approximately 5000 members.
caption: King Ladislaus I was an important figure in the country's Christianity during the Middle Ages.
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