The Archdiocese of Berlin is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Jo ...

ecclesiastical territory or

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 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 ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. The archepiscopal see is in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, with the archdiocese's territory extending over Northeast Germany. As of 2004, the archdiocese has 386,279 Catholics out of the population of Berlin, most of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 square ...

(except for its southeastern corner, historical

Lower Lusatia Lower Lusatia (; ; ; szl, Dolnŏ Łużyca; ; ) is a historical region in Central Europe, stretching from the southeast of the German state of Brandenburg to the southwest of Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland. Like adjacent Upper Lusatia in the ...

) and Hither Pomerania, i. e. the German part of Pomerania. This means that a little over 6% of the population in this area is Roman Catholic. There are 122 parishes in the archdiocese. The current archbishop is Heiner Koch, formerly Bishop of Dresden, who was appointed by Pope Francis on Monday, 8 June 2015, to replace Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki, who had earlier been named Archbishop of Cologne.

History

The affairs of the Roman Catholic Church in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) constituted the German state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: ...

had been reorganised by the Bull "De salute animarum", issued in 1821. Before the Prussian Provinces of

and of Pomerania were part of the Vicariate Apostolic of the Northern Missions after the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

in the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The countr ...

in 1534 and in the

Electorate of Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an area of 29,480 squar ...

in 1539 and the conversion of the majority of the inhabitants had made the area a Catholic diaspora. Before the Reformation the westernmost territories of the Berlin diocese were in ecclesiastical respect part of the

Diocese of Havelberg The Bishopric of Havelberg (german: Bistum Havelberg) was a Roman Catholic diocese founded by King Otto I of Germany in 946, from 968 a suffragan to the Archbishops of Magedeburg. A Prince-bishopric (''Hochstift'') from 1151, Havelberg as a resu ...

, the southwestern and central parts belonged to the

Diocese of Brandenburg The Prince-Bishopric of Brandenburg (german: Hochstift Brandenburg) was an ecclesiastical principality of the Holy Roman Empire from the 12th century until it was secularized during the second half of the 16th century. It should not be confused w ...

. The northwestern

Rügen Rügen (; la, Rugia, ) is Germany's largest island. It is located off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic Sea and belongs to the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The "gateway" to Rügen island is the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, w ...

island belonged to the

Diocese of Roskilde The Diocese of Roskilde ( da, Roskildes Stift) is a diocese within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark. The seat of the Bishop is Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde Roskilde ( , ) is a city west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zeala ...

, whereas the northern ( Hither Pomerania) and the former northeastern part (

Farther Pomerania Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (german: Hinterpommern, Ostpommern), is the part of Pomerania which comprised the eastern part of the Duchy and later Province of Pomerania. It stretched roughly from the ...

) on both banks of the

Oder The Oder ( , ; Czech language, Czech, Lower Sorbian language, Lower Sorbian and ; ) is a river in Central Europe. It is Poland's second-longest river in total length and third-longest within its borders after the Vistula and Warta. The Oder ri ...

formed the

exempt Exemption may refer to: * Tax exemption, which allows a certain amount of income or other value to be legally excluded to avoid or reduce taxation * Exemption (Catholic canon law), an exemption in the Roman Catholic Church, that is the whole or ...

Diocese of Cammin, established in 1140 for the territory of the then Duchy of Pomerania. Pomerania had repeatedly been Polish or independent before joining the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

in 1180.

Gniezno Gniezno (; german: Gnesen; la, Gnesna) is a city in central-western Poland, about east of Poznań. Its population in 2021 was 66,769, making it the sixth-largest city in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. One of the Piast dynasty's chief cities, ...

and Magdeburg archdioceses competed for expanding their influence into Pomerania, which is why the Holy See determined Cammin to remain exempt. Cammin had had a short-lived predecessor, the diocese of

Kołobrzeg Kołobrzeg ( ; csb, Kòlbrzég; german: Kolberg, ), ; csb, Kòlbrzég , is a port city in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in north-western Poland with about 47,000 inhabitants (). Kołobrzeg is located on the Parsęta River on the south coast o ...

, established in the year 1000. Kołobrzeg's diocese under Bishop Reinbern was overrun by a pagan revolt just a few years after its establishment and Christianity was reintroduced in the area only in the early 12th century, following military expeditions of Duke Bolesław Wrymouth who once again had tied the Pomeranian lands to Poland. The native

Wartislaw I, Duke of Pomerania Wartislaw I (''Warcisław I'') (around 1092 – August 9, 1135) was the first historical ruler of the Duchy of Pomerania and the founder of the Griffin dynasty. Most of the information about him comes from the writings on the life of Otto of Ba ...

established the Duchy of Pomerania in 1121, as a vassal state of Poland under Bolesław Wrymouth. Wartislaw I agreed to Christianise Pomerania, and he, along with Bolesław, backed

Otto of Bamberg Otto of Bamberg (1060 or 1061 – 30 June 1139) was a German missionary and papal legate who converted much of medieval Pomerania to Christianity. He was the bishop of Bamberg from 1102 until his death. He was canonized in 1189. Early life Th ...

in his successful

Conversion of Pomerania Medieval Pomerania was converted from Slavic paganism to Christianity by Otto von Bamberg in 1124 and 1128 (Duchy of Pomerania), and in 1168 by Absalon (Principality of Rügen). Earlier attempts at Christianization, undertaken since the 10th ce ...

. In 1125 Bolesław Wrymouth established the new Diocese of Lubusz (Lebus) seated in Lubusz (Lebus), with its diocesan territory comprising the Lubusz Land (Land of Lebus), then part of the Polish reign, on both banks of the Oder. Lebus' diocesan area later formed the southeastern part of the Berlin diocese. In the late 16th and the 17th centuries the competent dioceses of Brandenburg, Cammin, Havelberg, Lebus, and Roskilde had been secularised, the few Catholics in the area were pastored by the Apostolic Vicariate of the Northern Missions (for the dioceses of Brandenburg, Havelberg and Lebus since 1670; for those of Cammin and Roskilde as of 1688). The Holy See considered the former sees as ''sedes impeditae''. In memory of them, Berlin's archdiocesan coat-of-arms combines the symbols of the dioceses of Brandenburg, Cammin, Havelberg and Lebus.Cf. article ''Geschichte'' o
Diözesanarchiv Berlin
retrieved on 3 April 2010. With the annexation of most of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...

until 1763 the bulk of the then Diocese of Breslau (Wrocław), most of which lay within the borders of

Kingdom of Bohemia The Kingdom of Bohemia ( cs, České království),; la, link=no, Regnum Bohemiae sometimes in English literature referred to as the Czech Kingdom, was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Central Europe, the predecessor of the modern Czec ...

since the 14th century, had become a part of Brandenburg-Prussia. With the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire Brandenburg was officially merged with Prussia, which itself had gained sovereignty from Poland in 1657 ( Treaty of Wehlau). Many Roman Catholic dioceses and other jurisdictions had borders deviating from the political boundaries often changing with the many wars in Central Europe. This led to the situation where parts of one diocese or jurisdiction lay in different countries. The territory of pre-1815 Brandenburg (thus without

) and Prussian Pomerania formed part of the Apostolic Vicariate of the Northern Missions, which in 1821 also comprised seventeen other nations partially or completely. In Brandenburg and Pomerania the pope, by the Bull "De salute animarum", established a new jurisdiction on the one hand and extended the ambit of the neighbouring Breslau diocese on the other. The 1815-annexed Prussian part of the Lusatias, in ecclesiastical respect part of the Apostolic Prefecture of the two Lusatias (a.k.a. of Meissen), seated in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin () is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree river. In 2018 the town's population was 39,087. Until 1868, its German name was ''Bu ...

(Saxony), was reassigned in ecclesiastical respect to the Diocese of Breslau, which itself, comprising territory in Bohemia and Prussia, became exempt in 1821 (previously a suffragan of Gniezno). In political respect, the two Lusatias were divided. Lower Lusatia became Brandenburgian, northeastern

Upper Lusatia Upper Lusatia (german: Oberlausitz ; hsb, Hornja Łužica ; dsb, Górna Łužyca; szl, Gōrnŏ Łużyca; pl, Łużyce Górne or ''Milsko''; cz, Horní Lužice) is a historical region in Germany and Poland. Along with Lower Lusatia to th ...

Silesian Silesian as an adjective can mean anything from or related to Silesia. As a noun, it refers to an article, item, or person of or from Silesia. Silesian may also refer to: People and languages * Silesians, inhabitants of Silesia, either a West S ...

, southeastern Upper Lusatia remained Saxon. The new jurisdiction was Breslau's ''Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania'' whose ambit was disentangled from the Northern Missions Apostolic Vicariate and comprised pre-1815 Brandenburg (thus without Lower Lusatia) and Prussian Pomerania. The Bull also reassigned the deaneries of Pszczyna (Pless) and Bytom (Beuthen) from the diocese of Kraków to that of Breslau more than 600 years after those territories had been ceded by the Polish duke Casimir the Just of Kraków to his nephew Mieszko IV Tanglefoot of Racibórz.

Breslau's ''Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania''

By the Bull "De salute animarum" the other parts of Brandenburg and the Province of Pomerania, except for the districts of Bütow (Bytów) and Lauenburg in Pomerania (Lębork) (till 1922 both part of the Diocese of Culm), were subordinated to Breslau's jurisdiction as an episcopal delegation in 1821, ending the mandate of the Vicariate Apostolic there. The jurisdiction was titled the Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania (german: link=no, Fürstbischöfliche Delegatur für Brandenburg und Pommern), since

Emanuel von Schimonsky Emmanuel von Schimonsky (1752-1832) was Prince-Bishop of Wrocław from 1823 to 1832. Early life Emmanuel von Schimonsky was born on July 23, 1752, in Brzeźnica, the son of alderman Joseph von Schimonsky. He studied in Wroclaw, and later at the ...

was invested to Breslau's see as prince-bishop in 1824. In 1821 the Delegation district comprised altogether six established Catholic parishes:.''Im Gedächtnis der Kirche neu erwachen: Studien zur Geschichte des Christentums in Mittel- und Osteuropa; Festgabe für Gabriel Adriányi zum 65. Geburtstag'' Reimund Haas (ed.), Kardinal Miloslav Vlk (introduction), Cologne: Böhlau, 2000 (=Bonner Beiträge zur Kirchengeschichte; vol. 22), footnote 60 on p. 54. . *Berlin: St. Hedwig parish, established in 1745, first Roman Catholic mass in 1719, * Frankfurt upon Oder: Holy Cross parish, established in 1789, first Roman Catholic mass in 1786, *

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

: Ss. Peter and Paul parish, established in 1789, first Roman Catholic mass in the same year, *

Spandau Spandau () is the westernmost of the 12 boroughs () of Berlin, situated at the confluence of the Havel and Spree rivers and extending along the western bank of the Havel. It is the smallest borough by population, but the fourth largest by la ...

: Ss. Peter and Paul parish on Gewehrplan, Haselhorst, established in 1723, first Roman Catholic mass in 1722, *

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

: St. John the Baptist parish, established in 1722, first Roman Catholic mass in 1717, and *

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic City of Stralsund ( German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin, ...

: Holy Trinity parish, established in 1784, first Roman Catholic mass in 1761. Breslau's Prince-Bishop Heinrich Förster (1853–1881) gave generous aid to the founding of churches, monastic institutions, and schools, especially in the diaspora regions. The strife that arose between the Catholic Church and the Prussian State brought his labours in the Prussian part of his diocese to an end. He was deposed by the State and had to leave for the episcopal

Austrian Silesia Austrian Silesia, (historically also ''Oesterreichisch-Schlesien, Oesterreichisch Schlesien, österreichisch Schlesien''); cs, Rakouské Slezsko; pl, Śląsk Austriacki officially the Duchy of Upper and Lower Silesia, (historically ''Herzogth ...

n castle of Johannesberg in Jauernig, where he died on 20 October 1881. So

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

appointed as his successor

Robert Herzog Robert Herzog (1823–1886) was the Roman Catholic diocesan Bishop of Wrocław in 1882–1886. Born February 17, 1823, in Budzów as the eldest son of a farmer Josef Herzog and his wife Barbara Herold, he graduated from high school in Kłodzko ...

(1882–86), till then ''Prince-Episcopal Delegate for Brandenburg and Pomerania'' and provost of St. Hedwig's Church in Berlin. Prince-Bishop Herzog made every endeavour to bring order out of the confusion into which the quarrel with the State during the immediately preceding years had thrown the affairs of the diocese.

Establishment of the Berlin Diocese

According to the ''

Prussian Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

Concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Edi ...

'' of 1929 Pope

Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City from ...

elevated the ''Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania'' to the Diocese of Berlin on 13 August 1930, becoming a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

of the Diocese of Breslau simultaneously elevated to

, whose Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province further comprised the prior exempt Diocese of Ermland and the new

Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...

(german: link=no, Prälatur Schneidemühl). In 1930 the Berlin diocese comprised an area of 60,258 km² with 531,744 Catholics, making up 7.3% of the total population. They were pastorally served by 262 diocesan priests within 149 parishes and chapels of ease. After World War II Berlin's diocesan territory east of the Oder-Neiße line ( East Brandenburg and central and

) – with 33 parishes and chapels of ease – came under Polish control. Most of the parishioners and priests there had either fled the invading Soviet

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

or were subsequently expelled by Polish authorities. Cardinal August Hlond demanded the diocesan territory east of the new border for the creation of new dioceses, he appointed a

diocesan administrator :''See: Catholic Church hierarchy#Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law'' A diocesan administrator is a provisional ordinary of a Roman Catholic particular church. Diocesan administrators in canon law The college of consultors elects an admini ...

for Berlin's eastern diocesan territory seated in Gorzów Wielkopolski (Landsberg an der Warthe). Pope Pius XII refused to acknowledge these claims. In 1951, when 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 ...

– similar to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

– still asserted that East Brandenburg and Farther Pomerania would be returned to Germany at a near date, the Pope appointed Teodor Bensch (1903–1958), titular bishop of Tabuda, as auxiliary bishop responsible for the Polish part of the diocese of Berlin. His office was titled ''

Apostolic Administration of Kamień, Lubusz and the Prelature of Piła Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

'' ( pl, Administracja Apostolska Kamieńska, Lubuska i Prałatury Pilskiej). On 27 June 1972, however, – in response to West Germany's change in

Ostpolitik ''Neue Ostpolitik'' (German for "new eastern policy"), or ''Ostpolitik'' for short, was the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany) and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republ ...

and the Treaty of Warsaw –

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his death in Augus ...

reversed the diocesan boundary along the post-war borders. The Apostolic constitution ''Vratislaviensis - Berolinensis et aliarium'' disentangled the East Brandenburgian diocesan area (becoming thus the

Diocese of Gorzów 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 ...

) and the Farther Pomeranian diocesan area (becoming the new westerly Diocese of Szczecin-Kamień and the easterly

Diocese of Koszalin-Kołobrzeg 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 ...

Modern and contemporary history of the Archdiocese

In 1972 the German part of the Archdiocese of Breslau was also reconstituted as the exempt Apostolic Administration of Görlitz, thus giving Berlin exempt status. On 27 June 1994,

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 ...

elevated Berlin to the rank of an archdiocese, supervising since the simultaneously erected Diocese of Görlitz (formerly Apostolic Administration) and the prior exempt

Diocese of Dresden-Meißen 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 associ ...

. In 2011,

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 sovereign ...

named Rainer Maria Woelki as Archbishop of Berlin and made him a cardinal shortly afterward. In 2012, the Archdiocese announced major structural revisions, merging parishes into larger clusters known as "pastoral areas". In August 2020, on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of its existence, the Archdiocese consecrated itself to the

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This de ...

s of Jesus and Mary.

Ordinaries

* (13 August 1930 appointed – 1 September 1933 died) * (27 October 1933 appointed – 1 March 1935 died) * Konrad Cardinal von Preysing Lichtenegg-Moos (5 July 1935 appointed – 21 December 1950 died) *

Wilhelm Weskamm Wilhelm Weskamm (13 May 1891 – 21 August 1956) was a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Berlin from 1951 until his death. Life Franz Johannes Wilhelm Weskamm was born in Helsen near Arolsen, roughly 175&n ...

(4 June 1951 appointed – 21 August 1956 died) * Julius August Cardinal Döpfner (15 January 1957 appointed – 3 July 1961 appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising) * Alfred Cardinal Bengsch (16 August 1961 appointed (later had the personal title of Archbishop) – 13 December 1979 died) * Joachim Cardinal Meisner (22 April 1980 appointed – 20 December 1988 appointed

Archbishop of Cologne The Archbishop of Cologne is an archbishop governing the Archdiocese of Cologne of the Catholic Church in western North Rhine-Westphalia and is also a historical state in the Rhine holding the birthplace of Beethoven and northern Rhineland-Pala ...

) * Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky (28 May 1989 appointed – 24 February 2011 retired) * Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki (2 July 2011 – 20 September 2014 installed

) *

Heiner Koch Heiner Koch (born 13 June 1954) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been the Archbishop of Berlin since September 2015. He was an auxiliary bishop in Cologne from 2006 to 2013 and Bishop of Dresden-Meissen from 2013 to 2015. Earl ...

(appointed 8 June 2015, installed on 19 September 2015)

Prince-Episcopal Delegates for Brandenburg and Pomerania

The delegate was combined in

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more State (polity), states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some e ...

with the

provostry A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian Churches. Historical development The word ''praepositus'' (Latin: "set over", from ''praeponere'', "to place in front") was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary. I ...

of St. Hedwig's in Berlin. *1821–1823 – Johann Ambros(ius) Taube (Silesia, *1778 – 22 April 1823*, Berlin), provost of St. Hedwig since 1810 *1824–1826 – Hubert Auer (Bingen, *1 May 1780 – 17 February 1838*, Trier) *1827–1829 – Nikolaus Fischer as administrator per pro *1829–1836 – Nikolaus Fischer (*1791– 18 April 1858*, Frankenstein in Schlesien) *1836–1849 – Georg Anton Brinkmann (Billerbeck, *15 October 1796 – 7 May 1856*, Münster in Westphalia) *1849–1850 –

Wilhelm Emmanuel Freiherr von Ketteler Baron Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler (25 December 181113 July 1877) was a German theologian and politician who served as Bishop of Mainz. His social teachings became influential during the papacy of Leo XIII and his encyclical ''Rerum novarum''. ...

*1850–1859 – Leopold Pelldram (Schweidnitz, *3 May 1811 – 3 May 1867*, Trier) *1860–1870 – Franz Xaver Karker *1870–1882 –

(Schönwalde bei Frankenstein, * 17 February 1823 – 26 December 1886*, Breslau) *1882–1888 – Johannes Baptist Maria Assmann (Branitz, *26 August 1833 – 27 May 1903*, Ahrweiler) *1889–1897 – Joseph Jahnel (*1834–1897*, Berlin) *1887–1905 – Karl Neuber (*1841–1905*) *1905–1920 – Carl Kleineidam ( Hohengiersdorf, *1848–1924*, Giersdorf) *1920–1929 – Josef Deitmer (Münster in Westphalia, *12 August 1865 – 16 January 1929*, Berlin) *1929–1930 – Christian Schreiber, Bishop of Meissen, as administrator of the future diocese of BerlinCf. "Berlin, Bistum" in
''Visitatur Breslau: Schlesien in Kirche und Welt''
Lexikon B. Retrieved on 21 April 2010.

Famous people of the Berlin Archdiocese

Joseph Ahrens Joseph Johannes Clemens Ahrens (April 17, 1904 in Sommersell – December 21, 1997 in Berlin) was a German composer and organist. Ahrens received early training in organ and choral music with Wilhelm Schnippering in Büren and Fritz Volbach i ...

Eva-Maria Buch Eva-Maria Buch (31 January 1921 – 5 August 1943) was a resistance fighter against the Nazi régime in Germany associated with the Red Orchestra (''Rote Kapelle'') resistance group. Life Buch was born and lived with her parents in Charlott ...

* Alfred Delp *

August Froehlich August Froehlich (26 January 1891 – 22 June 1942) was an Upper Silesian Roman Catholic priest. In his pastoral activity he opposed National Socialism. He campaigned in the name of German Catholics and of Polish forced labourers. He died in Dach ...

, priest active in the resistance movement against the

National Socialism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

, protector of Polish forced laborers, martyred in the

Dachau concentration camp Dachau () was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents. It is ...

Romano Guardini Romano Guardini (17 February 1885 – 1 October 1968) was a German Catholic priest, author, and academic. He was one of the most important figures in Catholic intellectual life in the 20th century. Life and work Guardini was born in Verona, I ...

* Paul Lejeune-Jung * Bernhard Lichtenberg, blessed priest and theologian, active in the resistance movement against the National Socialism, awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations *

Josef Lenzel Josef Lenzel (21 April 1890 – 3 July 1942) was a German Roman Catholic priest active in resistance movement against the National Socialism, who died in the Dachau concentration camp where he had been sent as a result of his work with Polish for ...

, priest active in the resistance movement against the National Socialism, helped the Polish forced laborers, martyred in the Dachau concentration camp * Michael Graf von Matuschka * Max Josef Metzger * Herbert Simoleit *

Margarete Sommer Margarete (Grete) Sommer (July 21, 1893 – June 30, 1965) was a German Catholic social worker and lay Dominican. During the Holocaust, she helped persecuted Jewish citizens, keeping many of them from deportation to death camps.< ...

, awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations *

Carl Sonnenschein Carl Sonnenschein (July 15, 1876 - February 20, 1929) was a German writer and Catholic priest, the founder of the Catholic student movement in Germany. He was born in Düsseldorf and died in Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital a ...

* Maria Terwiel * Albert Willimsky, priest active in the resistance movement against the National Socialism, protector of Polish forced laborers, martyred in the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

Josef Wirmer Josef Wirmer (19 March 1901 – 8 September 1944) was a German jurist and resistance fighter against the Nazi regime. Life Born in Paderborn, Josef Wirmer was from a Catholic family of teachers. His father was a '' Gymnasium'' headmaster. A ...