Gerhard Feige (born 19 November 1951) is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been

bishop 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 Diocese of Magdeburg The Diocese of Magdeburg is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church, located in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Its seat is Magdeburg; it is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Paderborn. The Diocese was erected out of Paderborn terr ...

since 2005. Feige previously was the auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Magdeburg from 1999 to 2005.

Biography

Early life

George Feige was born born in Halle, East Germany.

Priesthood

Feige was ordained a priest on 1 July 1978 for the Diocese of Magdeburg and worked in

Salzwedel Salzwedel (, officially known as Hansestadt Salzwedel; Low German: ''Soltwedel'') is a town in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, and has a population of approximately 21,500. Salz ...

. He promoted and worked as a teacher of church history, patrology and study of eastern churches.

Episcopacy

On 11 September 1999 he was appointed titular bishop of

Tisedi Tisedi was an ancient city and episcopal see, which remains a Latin Church titular see within the Catholic Church. History Tisedi, located near modern Aziz-Ben-Tellis in present Algeria, was one of many towns in the Roman province of Numidia wh ...

and an auxiliary bishop of Magdeburg. On 23 February 2005, he was appointed bishop of Magdeburg and installed on 16 April 2005. He succeeded Leo Nowak. Since 2004, Feige has served as one of two co-chairmen of the Saint Irenaeus Joint Orthodox-Catholic Working Group, an ecumenical group of Catholic and

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

theologians—clerics and lay people—which promotes unity and investigates the differences between these Christian traditions. Feige is a member of the

Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity The Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, previously named the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (PCPCU), is a dicastery whose origins are associated with the Second Vatican Council which met intermittently from 1962 to 1965. Po ...

and a chairman of the Ecumenical Commission of the

German Bishops' Conference The German Bishops' Conference (german: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz) is the episcopal conference of the bishops of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. Members include diocesan bishops, coadjutors, auxiliary bishops, and diocesan administrato ...

Views

When asked about the potential

ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

in January 2019, Feige said that the question remained open while recognizing that such a path is unlikely. He added that there is a possibility for married clergy in the Roman Catholic Church, as witnessed by the sacramental dignity of married Orthodox priests. In January 2020, Feige, the then-head of the German bishops' commission on ecumenism, voiced skepticism about a recent proposal by German theologians to give Protestants the ability to receive Communion in Catholic churches.

External links

Catholic Hierarchy bio

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feige, Gerhard 1951 births Roman Catholic bishops of Magdeburg 20th-century German Roman Catholic bishops 21st-century German Roman Catholic bishops Living people People from Halle (Saale) 20th-century German Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Germany