He has credited his time in Catholic countries such as Poland and the Philippines with strengthening him for work in his episcopal assignments where he is part of a religious minority.
[3][b] His role models were a local priest and an uncle who was secretly a Verbite in Hungary under the Communists, who recommended the order as a path to broader experience, telling Nemet that "a diocese is too small for you".
He joined the Society of the Divine Word, completed his studies in philosophy and theology in Pieniezno, Poland, and there took his perpetual vows on 8 September 1982.
[9] He worked for the Mission of the Holy See in Vienna at its representation to the United Nations and specialized agencies from 2000 to 2004 and at the same time taught as professor of Jesuit faculty of theology in Zagreb.
[10] In July 2006 he became Secretary General of the Hungarian Catholic Bishops' Conference (HCBC) and taught missiology at the Sapientia College of Theology for Religious Orders in Budapest.
Nemet focused on multiplying parish activities, guaranteeing that small communities were included, and making personal interaction a priority.
[3][5] In April 2011, he was elected to a five-year term as secretary general of the International Episcopal Conference of Saints Cyril and Methodius (CEICEM),[16] which comprises Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia.
He praised efforts to protect women from abuse and to value their social role, while objecting to the promotion of same-sex parenting and denying children recognition as boys and girls.
After explaining the origins of marriage and its role in childbearing and instruction in the faith, he affirmed God's love for families "in every wounded situation".
He concluded by urging such couples to have the courage to consult a pastor about access to Communion, permitted in "special cases, under strict conditions".
[10][25] In addition to Catholic prelates from several Eastern European countries, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije attended.
He noted that their concerns were widely shared, if differently expressed, by other national synods, including those of eastern Europe, which underscored "the tension between pastoral care and teaching" with respect to the status of women in the Church and exclusions based on sexual orientation.
Asked specifically about the LGBT community, he said: "I do not understand what we lose if we finally begin to experience without fear the infinite and overflowing, unimaginable love of God for each person."
[29] He assessed the Synod's work enthusiastically for including lay men and women, and he cited its lessons in dialogue and listening, for demonstrating the need for transparency and accountability on the part of bishops.
He cited the permanent diaconate and "blessings for couples in same-sex relationships" as models, implemented to varying degrees across the Catholic world.
[30] When the Vatican offered guidance in December 2023 that allowed for priests to bless same-sex couples, and the reaction from eastern European prelates was largely negative,[31] Nemet endorsed the initiative.
[3][h] Others tried to read the choice of Nemet as part of a Vatican strategy with respect to the much contested question of canonizing Aloysius Stepinac, Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960.