He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.

He was Spiritual Protector and Chaplain General of the Orléans obedience of the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem from 2004 to 2012.

László Paskai was born to Jewish parents who had converted to the Roman Catholic faith before the birth of their son and who later were murdered during The Holocaust.

He later served as a faculty member and spiritual director and finally rector of the Central Seminary, Budapest.

On 17 July 2011, he celebrated the last in a series of requiems for Otto von Habsburg, Hungary's last Crown Prince and since pretender to the throne, in St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.