The German Bishops' Conference (german: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz) is the episcopal conference of the

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. Members include diocesan bishops,

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

s, auxiliary bishops, and diocesan administrators.

History

The first meeting of the German bishops took place in Würzburg in 1848, and in 1867 the ''

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

Conference of Bishops'' ("next to the grave of

St. Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of ...

") was established, which reorganized as German Bishops' Conference in 1966. The annual autumn conference of the German bishops still takes place in Fulda, while the meeting in spring is held at alternating places. After the construction of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...

the ordinaries in the East German Democratic Republic (GDR) were inhibited to participate in the ''Fulda Conference of Bishops''. In 1974 the GDR formally suggested talks with the Holy See. As one of the outcomes the '' Berlin Conference of Bishops'' was established for the East German ordinaries on 26 July 1976. The Diocese of Berlin, also comprising West Berlin, was thereafter represented in the German Bishops' Conference and the Berlin Conference alike, in the former by its vicar general, in the latter by the bishop personally. The Catholic Church did not consider the Berlin Conference as a national Bishops' Conference, since the Holy See officially conceived the East German ordinaries as part of the German Bishops' Conference as papally confirmed by its statute on 26 September 1976. East Germany's diocesan structure was complicated. Since 1972 three sees had their seat in East Germany, the dioceses of Berlin and of Dresden-Meissen and the

Apostolic Administration of Görlitz Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Apostles in the New Testament, Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine ...

. The rest of East Germany belonged to dioceses seated in West Germany, which appointed commissaries for the East German parts of their dioceses. The Berlin Conference was disestablished in 1990. On 25 September 2018, the national Episcopal Conference threw the presentation of a self-commissioned study from which resulted at least 3.700 cases of sexual abuse in Germany from 1946 to 2014. More than a half were child abuses In 2010, the New York Times published the allegations of sexual abuses committed by a priest of the Munich diocese in the 80s. It was preceded by the ones of Lawrence Murphy in Wisconsin, happened in a school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974.

Chairmen

Fulda Conference of Bishops (till 1965)

* Johannes von Geissel,

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

, Archbishop of Cologne (1848) * Paulus Melchers,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1867-1883) * Philipp Krementz,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1884-1896) * Georg von Kopp,

, Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1897-1913) * Felix von Hartmann,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1914-1919) * Adolf Bertram,

, Prince-Archbishop of Breslau (1920-1945) * Josef Frings,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1945-1965)

German Bishops' Conference (since 1966)

* Julius Döpfner,

, Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1965–1976) *

Joseph Höffner Joseph Höffner (24 December 1906 – 16 October 1987) was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Cologne from 1969 to 1987 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969. Biography Born in Horhausen, H� ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1976-1987) * Karl Lehmann, Cardinal, Bishop of Mainz (1987-2008) * Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg (18 February 2008-12 March 2014) * Reinhard Marx, Cardinal, Archbishop of Munich and Freising (12 March 2014-3 March 2020) *

Georg Bätzing Georg Bätzing (born 13 April 1961) is a German Catholic theologian who has been Bishop of Limburg since 2016 and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since March 2020. Early life and career Bätzing was born in Kirchen and grew up in Ni ...

, Bishop of Limburg (3 March 2020-present)

Chairmen of the Berlin Conference of Bishops (1976-1990)

Alfred Bengsch Alfred Bengsch (10 September 1921 – 13 December 1979) was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Berlin from 1961 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1967. Biography Alfred Bengsch was born ...

, Archbishop (personal title) of Berlin (1976–1979) *

Gerhard Schaffran Gerhard Schaffran (4 July 1912, in Leśnica, Górny Śląsk – 4 March 1996, in Dresden) was Papal consistory and Auxiliary bishop of Görlitz, of Breslau for the see of Görlitz and Bishop of Dresden-Meissen. Life Schaffran was the son of ...

, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen (1980–1982) * Joachim Meisner,

(in 1983), Bishop of Berlin and then Archbishop of Cologne (1982–1989) * Joachim Wanke, Administrator Apostolic of the Episcopal Office in Erfurt-Meiningen (1989, per pro) * Georg Sterzinsky,

, Bishop of Berlin (1989–1990)

Ecclesiastical provinces

References

External links

Deutsche Bischofskonferenz
– official website

– GCatholic.org website {{Authority control Catholic Church in Germany Germany Religious organizations established in 1867 Christian organizations established in the 19th century 1867 establishments in Germany