The German Bishops' Conference (german: Deutsche Bischofskonferenz) is the

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

of the

bishops 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 Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Catholic 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 ...

diocese 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 ...

s in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. Members include diocesan bishops,

coadjutor The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

s, auxiliary bishops, and diocesan administrators.

History

The first meeting of the German bishops took place in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg ...

in 1848, and in 1867 the ''

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...

Conference of Bishops'' ("next to the grave of

St. Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations o ...

") was established, which reorganized as German Bishops' Conference in 1966. The annual autumn conference of the German bishops still takes place in Fulda, while the meeting in spring is held at alternating places. After the construction of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the gover ...

the ordinaries in the East

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **G ...

(GDR) were inhibited to participate in the ''Fulda Conference of Bishops''. In 1974 the GDR formally suggested talks with 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 ...

. As one of the outcomes the ''

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

Conference of Bishops'' was established for the East German ordinaries on 26 July 1976. The Diocese of Berlin, also comprising

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, was thereafter represented in the German Bishops' Conference and the Berlin Conference alike, in the former by its

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop ...

, in the latter by the bishop personally. The Catholic Church did not consider the Berlin Conference as a national Bishops' Conference, since the Holy See officially conceived the East German ordinaries as part of the German Bishops' Conference as papally confirmed by its statute on 26 September 1976. East Germany's diocesan structure was complicated. Since 1972 three sees had their seat in East Germany, the dioceses of Berlin and of Dresden-Meissen and the Apostolic Administration of Görlitz. The rest of East Germany belonged to dioceses seated in

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 ...

, which appointed commissaries for the East German parts of their dioceses. The Berlin Conference was disestablished in 1990. On 25 September 2018, the national Episcopal Conference threw the presentation of a self-commissioned study from which resulted at least 3.700 cases of sexual abuse in Germany from 1946 to 2014. More than a half were child abuses In 2010, the New York Times published the allegations of sexual abuses committed by a priest of the Munich diocese in the 80s. It was preceded by the ones of Lawrence Murphy in Wisconsin, happened in a school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974.

Chairmen

Fulda Conference of Bishops (till 1965)

* Johannes von Geissel,

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, t ...

, Archbishop of Cologne (1848) * Paulus Melchers,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1867-1883) * Philipp Krementz,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1884-1896) * Georg von Kopp,

, Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1897-1913) * Felix von Hartmann,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1914-1919) * Adolf Bertram,

, Prince-Archbishop of Breslau (1920-1945) * Josef Frings,

, Archbishop of Cologne (1945-1965)

German Bishops' Conference (since 1966)

* Julius Döpfner,

, Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1965–1976) * Joseph Höffner, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1976-1987) *

Karl Lehmann Karl Lehmann (16 May 1936 – 11 March 2018) was a German Cardinal prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Mainz from 1983 to 2016, being elevated to Cardinal in 2001. He also served as Chairman of the Conference of the Germ ...

, Cardinal, Bishop of Mainz (1987-2008) *

Robert Zollitsch Robert Zollitsch (born 9 August 1938) is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Freiburg im Breisgau from 2003 to 2013 and was Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference from 2008 to 2014. Life and work Zollits ...

, Archbishop of Freiburg (18 February 2008-12 March 2014) *

Reinhard Marx Reinhard Marx (born 21 September 1953) is a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Pope Benedict XVI elevated Marx to the cardinalate in a consistory in 2010. Biography Born in Geseke, No ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Munich and Freising (12 March 2014-3 March 2020) *

Georg Bätzing Georg Bätzing (born 13 April 1961) is a German Catholic theologian who has been Bishop of Limburg since 2016 and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since March 2020. Early life and career Bätzing was born in Kirchen and grew up in N ...

, Bishop of Limburg (3 March 2020-present)

Chairmen of the Berlin Conference of Bishops (1976-1990)

Alfred Bengsch Alfred Bengsch (10 September 1921 – 13 December 1979) was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Berlin from 1961 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1967. Biography Alfred Bengsch was born ...

, Archbishop (personal title) of Berlin (1976–1979) * Gerhard Schaffran, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen (1980–1982) *

Joachim Meisner Joachim Meisner (25 December 1933 – 5 July 2017) was a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the immediate past Archbishop of Cologne, serving from 1989 until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis in 2014. He previously serve ...

(in 1983), Bishop of Berlin and then Archbishop of Cologne (1982–1989) * Joachim Wanke, Administrator Apostolic of the Episcopal Office in Erfurt-Meiningen (1989, per pro) * Georg Sterzinsky,

, Bishop of Berlin (1989–1990)

Ecclesiastical provinces

References

External links

Deutsche Bischofskonferenz
– official website

– GCatholic.org website {{Authority control Catholic Church in Germany

Religious organizations established in 1867 Christian organizations established in the 19th century 1867 establishments in Germany