Archduke Eduard Habsburg ends decade as Hungary’s ambassador to the Holy See, praising Popes Francis, Benedict XVI & Leo XIV in exclusive EWTN interview.
Newsroom (10/12/2025 Gaudium Press ) After ten extraordinary years representing Hungary at the Holy See, Archduke Eduard Habsburg, scion of Europe’s 850-year-old Catholic imperial dynasty, has concluded his diplomatic mission with a heartfelt farewell to Pope Leo XIV and warm reflections on three pontificates.
In an exclusive interview with EWTN News moments before his final audience on November 21 November, the outgoing ambassador described his Vatican posting as “the greatest 10 years of my life.”
“I felt that 10 years is a good term. It’s far longer than ambassadors usually have here,” Habsburg said. “I think I’ve seen everything you can see here, including a conclave, visits by my prime minister, exciting moments.” Now, he explained, family—especially his aging parents—takes priority.
His term officially ended 30 November, yet Habsburg made clear he will not vanish entirely from Church-related diplomacy. “I’ll keep a foot in that world, so to speak,” he said, noting he will likely continue representing Hungary at international events organized by the Church and pro-family organizations.
The archduke recalled his astonishment when first offered the post in 2015. “I hit the floor running,” he laughed, arriving in Rome with little prior diplomatic experience but deep Catholic roots that quickly proved an asset.
Among his warmest memories are multiple encounters with Pope Francis. Habsburg described the Argentine pontiff’s relationship with Hungary as “incredibly positive,” marked by genuine affection. “I saw it every time he met a Hungarian,” he recounted. “He would use Hungarian expressions. He would smile. He would be happy. He would take his time with them.”
Francis, who first visited Budapest only in 2021 for the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress and returned in 2023, told Habsburg he had “learned everything” about Hungary decades earlier from three Hungarian religious sisters who fled Soviet occupation in 1956 and ended up in a Buenos Aires monastery. “They have shaped Pope Francis’ outlook on Hungary and that made my work very easy,” Habsburg quipped. “He was incredibly generous.”
The ambassador also shared a lighter memory involving Pope Benedict XVI. In the 1990s, then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger read Habsburg’s doctoral thesis on Thomas Aquinas and Vatican II, praised it, and half-jokingly demanded the young scholar produce either a documentary or a thriller about Thomism. Years later, shortly after Habsburg presented his credentials to Pope Francis, he visited the pope emeritus in the Vatican Gardens.
“He looked at me and said, ‘So you’re ambassador now?’” Habsburg recalled. “And then he said, ‘You know you still owe me a documentary or a thriller about Thomism.’ That was the first thing he said. I was so blown away.” Smiling, he added: “I still haven’t written it.”
“That’s the one thing many people don’t realize about Pope Benedict XVI,” Habsburg continued, “the sense of humor that he had that we never got to see publicly.”
Turning to the present pontificate, Habsburg expressed admiration for Pope Leo XIV, the first American-born pope, whom he had met briefly four times before the 21 November farewell audience.
“I’m very impressed by him,” the archduke said. “I feel [he is] a very balanced and just man who is trying to do good.” He highlighted Leo XIV’s fluency in English, Italian, Spanish, and Latin, noting the pontiff “has several cultures in his heart and in his mind.”
“We pray for him every day,” Habsburg added.
As he prepares to return to private life with one foot still in Catholic international circles, Eduard Habsburg leaves behind a decade that blended imperial heritage, diplomatic achievement, and personal encounters with three popes—an era he says he will both miss and cherish.
The full interview with Archduke Eduard Habsburg is available below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FyHO4GNPs0&themeRefresh=1
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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