 Pope Pius XII appointed him as a bishop in 1941 and he later received his episcopal consecration a month later; his brother Gabor paid for his new episcopal vestments.He had received word from the papal nuncio Angelo Rotta of his appointment; the government had once recommended him to be an auxiliary bishop in 1936 and then as the Bishop of Veszprém in 1939 though both were denied.The see he was appointed to saw him as the third on the list but the pope decided to forgo selecting the first and instead chose Apor; his appointment could have also been due to the intervention of Rotta who perhaps knew of Apor.