Erwin Josef Ender (7 September 1937 – 19 December 2022) was a German prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

. He was an archbishop and had the rank of nuncio since 1990.

Biography

Erwin Josef Ender was born on 7 September 1937 in Steingrund in Lower Silesia Province (now Kamienna, Poland). He spent his childhood there until the end of World War II when the region became part of Poland. The German population of Silesia was relocated and from 1945 on his family lived in

Lüdinghausen Lüdinghausen ( Westphalian: ''Lünkhusen'' or ''Lünksel'') is a town in district of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, approx. 25 km south-west of Münster. Town parts The t ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

. As a seminarian Ender studied philosophy and theology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster and then at the

Pontifical Gregorian University The Pontifical Gregorian University ( it, Pontificia Università Gregoriana; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana,) is a higher education ecclesiastical school ( pontifical university) located in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as ...

and the

Collegium Germanicum The Collegio Teutonico (German College), historically often referred to by its Latin name Collegium Germanicum, is one of the Pontifical Colleges of Rome. The German College is the Pontifical College established for future ecclesiastics of German ...

in Rome. He was ordained a priest of the

Diocese of Münster 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 associat ...

on 10 October 1965. He received his doctorate from the Gregorian in 1970 with a thesis on the work of

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

. Ender then entered the diplomatic service of the

on 10 August 1970 and worked until 1990 in the offices of the Secretariat of State. On 15 March 1990,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

appointed him

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Germania in Numidia and gave him two diplomatic assignments: Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Sudan and Apostolic Delegate to the Red Sea Region. On 5 April he received his episcopal consecration from the Pope. On 26 March 1992, his title changed from Delegate to the Red Sea Region to Delegate to Somalia. In Sudan in 1996, he accused the government of torturing a priest to extract a

false confession A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interroga ...

of planning anti-government sabotage. On 9 July 1997, John Paul named him

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international ...

to the Baltic States: Lithuania, Latvia, and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. A month later, on 9 August, he was given the additional responsibility of

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic adm ...

of Estonia. On 19 May 2001, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. On 25 November 2003, he was named Apostolic Nuncio to the Federal Republic of Germany. On 15 October 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

accepted Ender's resignation as Apostolic Nuncio in Germany and appointed Jean-Claude Périsset as his successor. Pope Benedict named him a member of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: * Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administr ...

on 9 May 2009. On 2011 he led the delegation of the Holy See to a United Nations-sponsored conference in Moscow on discrimination and persecution of Christians.

References

External links

Erwin Josef Ender at Catholic Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ender, Erwin Josef 1937 births 2022 deaths People from Silesia Apostolic Nuncios to Sudan Apostolic Nuncios to Lithuania Apostolic Nuncios to Estonia Apostolic Nuncios to Latvia Apostolic Nuncios to the Czech Republic Apostolic Nuncios to Germany Apostolic Nuncios to Somalia Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Cartellverband members Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from the Province of Lower Silesia

Biography

See also

References

External links