The Archdiocese of Cologne ( la, Archidioecesis Coloniensis; german: Erzbistum Köln) is an

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and northern Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany.

History

The

Electorate of Cologne The Electorate of Cologne (german: Kurfürstentum Köln), sometimes referred to as Electoral Cologne (german: Kurköln, links=no), was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire that existed from the 10th to the early 19th century. ...

—not to be confused with the larger Archdiocese of Cologne—was one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire. The city of Cologne as such became a free city in 1288 and the archbishop eventually moved his residence from Cologne Cathedral to Bonn to avoid conflicts with the Free City, which escaped his jurisdiction. After 1795, the archbishopric's territories on the left bank of the Rhine were occupied by France, and were formally annexed in 1801. The

Reichsdeputationshauptschluss The ' (formally the ', or "Principal Conclusion of the Extraordinary Imperial Delegation"), sometimes referred to in English as the Final Recess or the Imperial Recess of 1803, was a resolution passed by the ' (Imperial Diet) of the Holy Roman Em ...

of 1803 secularized the rest of the archbishopric, giving the Duchy of Westphalia to the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. As an ecclesial government, however, the archdiocese remained (more or less) intact: while she lost the left bank including the episcopal city itself, Cologne, to the new Diocese of Aachen established under Napoleon's auspices, there still remained a substantial amount of territory on the right bank of the Rhine. After the death of the last Elector-Archbishop in 1801, the see was vacant for 23 years, being governed by vicar capitular Johann Herrmann Joseph v. Caspars zu Weiss and, after his death, by Johann Wilhelm Schmitz. In 1821, the archdiocese regained Cologne and the right bank of the Rhine (though with a new circumscription reflecting the Prussian subdivisions) and, in 1824, an archbishop was established there again. It remains an archdiocese to the present day, considered the most important one of Germany.

Finances

Cologne, the largest (in terms of inhabitants non-Catholics included) and reportedly richest diocese in Europe, announced in October 2013 that "in connection with the current discussion about Church finances" that its archbishop had reserves amounting to 166.2 million Euro in 2012. It said the 9.6 million Euro earnings from its investments were, as in previous years, added to the diocesan budget of 939 million Euro in 2012, three-quarters of which was financed by the "church tax" levied on churchgoers. In 2015 the archdiocese for the first time published its financial accounts, which show assets worth more than £2bn. Documents posted on the archdiocesan website showed assets of €3.35bn (£2.5bn) at the end of 2013. Some € 2.4 billion (£1.8bn) were invested in stocks, funds and company holdings. A further €646m (£475m) were held in tangible assets, mostly property. Cash reserves and outstanding loans amounted to about €287m (£211m).

List of archbishops of Cologne since 1824

The following is a list of the archbishops since the Archdiocese of Cologne was re-filled in 1824. *1824–1835: Ferdinand August von Spiegel *1835–1845: Clemens August von Droste-Vischering *1845–1864: Cardinal Johannes von Geissel *1866–1885: Cardinal Paul Ludolf Melchers *1885–1899: Cardinal Philipp Krementz *1899–1912:

Hubert Theophil Simar Hubert is a Germanic masculine given name, from ''hug'' "mind" and ''beraht'' "bright". It also occurs as a surname. Saint Hubertus or Hubert (c. 656 – 30 May 727) is the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians, and metalworkers. ...

*1902–1912: Cardinal Anton Hubert Fischer *1912–1919: Cardinal

Felix von Hartmann Felix von Hartmann (15 December 1851 – 11 November 1919) was a German prelate, who was Archbishop of Cologne from 1912 to 1919. Life Felix von Hartmann was born in Münster, the child of the second marriage of government official Albert vo ...

*1920–1941: Cardinal Karl Joseph Schulte *1942–1969: Cardinal Josef Frings *1969–1987: Cardinal

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� ...

*1989–2014: Cardinal Joachim Meisner *2014– : Cardinal

Rainer Woelki Rainer Maria Woelki (; born 18 August 1956) is a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Cologne since his installation on 20 September 2014 following his election by the Cathedral Chapter to succeed Joachim Meisner in ...

References

External links

*
List of Bishops and Archbishops of Cologne
''Archdiocese of Cologne (Erzbistum Köln)''

''Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom)'' {{Authority control Christianity in Cologne Cologne Cologne Cathedral Roman Catholic ecclesiastical provinces in Germany