Friedrich Wetter (born 20 February 1928) is a German
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 ...
of the
Catholic Church. He was
Archbishop
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...
of
Munich and Freising, Germany, from 1982 to 2007. He was
Bishop of
Speyer from 1968 to 1982. He has been a cardinal since 1985.
Early life
Wetter was born on 20 February 1928. He studied first in
Landau and then from 1948 to 1956 at the
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology and at the
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 ...
in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in theology. In 1953, he was
ordained a
priest in Rome by Cardinal
Cardinal
Clemente Micara.
He was a chaplain in
Speyer from 1956 to 1958 and taught at the seminary there from 1958 to 1960. He was assistant parish priest for a year in Glanmünchweiler, and then taught as Professor of Fundamental Theology in
Eichstätt from 1962 to 1967 and as Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the
Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz in 1967 for a year.
Bishop and cardinal
On 28 May 1968,
Pope Paul VI appointed him bishop of
Speyer. He received his episcopal consecration on 29 June
[ from Bishop Isidor Markus Emanuel, his predecessor in Speyer.
Pope John Paul II named him Archbishop of Munich and Freising on 28 October 1982 and he was installed there on 12 December.
While Archbishop of Munich and Freising, he chaired the Freising Bishops Conference and from 1981 to 2008 he chaired the faith commission of the German Bishops' Conference.
He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul on 25 May 1985, with the title of Cardinal-Priest of Santo Stefano Rotondo.
In October 2004 he protested that objections to the appointment of Rocco Buttiglione to the European Commission represented anti-Catholic bias, saying that Catholics like Konrad Adenauer, ]Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
, und Alcide de Gasperi, founders of the European Union, would now be excluded from its leadership. Buttiglione, a conservative Catholic nominated to handle issues of civil liberties and discrimination, had promised that his personal views would not interfere with his work, but members of the European parliament found his views on homosexuality and the proper role of women in society disqualifying.
He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave
The 2005 papal conclave was convened to elect a new pope following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April 2005. After his death, the cardinals of the Catholic Church who were in Rome met and set a date for the beginning of the conclave to elec ...
that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
Pope Benedict accepted his resignation on 2 February 2007. He continued there as apostolic administrator until the installation of Reinhard Marx as his successor on 2 February 2008.
The January 2022 report on the handling of cases of sexual abuse on the part of priests in the Munich archdiocese accused Wetter of "mishandling" 21 cases during his tenure as archbishop and administrator. Wetter defended his actions in detail and disputed much of the report; he admitted fault in one case in particular that the report addressed at great length. He apologized for failing to listen to victims of abuse and recognizing how abuse affected them and their families.
Works (selected)
*Die Trinitätslehre des Johannes Duns Scotus (= Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie und Theologie des Mittelalters, file 41, H. 5), Aschendorff, Münster 1967, (Thesis of Habilitation, University of Munich, Munich, Theological Faculty, 28. Oktober 1965).
See also
*Cardinals created by John Paul II
Pope John Paul II () created 231 cardinals in nine consistories held at roughly three-year intervals. Three of those cardinals were first created ''in pectore'', that is, without their names being announced, and only identified by the pope later ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wetter, Friedrich
1928 births
Living people
Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology alumni
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz faculty
People from the Palatinate (region)
People from Landau
20th-century German cardinals
21st-century German cardinals
Pontifical Gregorian University alumni
Collegium Germanicum et Hungaricum alumni
German Roman Catholics
Roman Catholic archbishops of Munich and Freising
Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
Roman Catholic bishops of Speyer
German Roman Catholic archbishops