Bischofskonferenz Sebastian Kurz 2014 (15716466865)

The Austrian Bishops' Conference (german: Österreichische Bischofskonferenz) is the official assembly of the

Roman Catholic 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 letter ...

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. It is the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, established as a formal body under

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a State (polity), state, between Separation of powers, different branches of governments, as well as relationship ...

in 1849. Its members include the archbishops of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, all

diocesan 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 auxiliary bishops, as well as the abbot of immediate

Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is a Cistercian territorial abbey and cathedral located at Mehrerau on the outskirts of Bregenz in Vorarlberg, Austria. Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey is directly subordinate to the Holy See and thus forms no part of the Cathol ...

. 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 ...

represents the Catholic Church towards the

Austrian Federal Government The Government of Austria (german: Bundesregierung der Republik Österreich) is the executive cabinet of the Republic of Austria. It consists of the chancellor, who is the head of government, the vice chancellor and the ministers. App ...

in all matters of legal relationships between

church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular stat ...

and

freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedo ...

. It is also the supreme

ecclesiastical authority Ecclesiastical government, ecclesiastical hierarchy, or ecclesiocracy may refer to: * Theocracy, a form of religious State government * Hierocracy (medieval) In the Middle Ages, hierocracy or papalism''Hierocracy'' is sometimes construed as a mor ...

in Austria concerning Catholic

canon law Canon law (from grc, κανών, , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its members. It is th ...

. The assembly is a member of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE) and of the

Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, formerly the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, ( la, Commissio Episcopatuum Communitatis Europaeae; COMECE) is the association of Catholic Church e ...

. It also runs the official Catholic

news agency A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswi ...

''Kathpress''. The current chairman of the Bishop's Conference is

Franz Lackner Franz Lackner (born 14 July 1956) is an Austrian prelate who has been Archbishop of Salzburg since 2013. In June 2020 he was elected the president of the Austrian Bishops' Conference. Life Franz Lackner was born in Feldbach in the district of ...

, the Archbishop of Salzburg.

Legal bases

The Conference functions in accordance with the Documents of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

, in particular the ''

Christus Dominus ''Christus Dominus'' (''Christ the Lord''; abbreviation "CD") is the Second Vatican Council's "Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops". The document was approved by a vote of 2,319 to 2 of the assembled bishops and was promulgated by Pope Pau ...

'' Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops (37/38), the 1983 Code of Canon Law (Cann. 447–459), and its own constitutions. Its legal position as a formal corporation under public law and representative body of a state-recognised religious community was confirmed by a 1933

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 ...

between 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 ...

and the

First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (german: Erste Österreichische Republik), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I w ...

Active Members

Conference Leadership

O.F.M.,

Archbishop of Salzburg The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Salzburg ( la, Archidioecesis Salisburgensis) is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria. The archdiocese is one of two Austrian archdioceses, serving alongside the Archdiocese o ...

(Chairman) * Manfred Scheuer,

Bishop of Linz The Diocese of Linz ( la, Dioecesis Linciensis) is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria. History Early history In the early Middle Ages the greater part of the territory of the present Diocese of Linz was subject to the bishops ...

(Deputy Chairman)

Members

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, ...

Christoph Schönborn Christoph Maria Michael Hugo Damian Peter Adalbert Graf von Schönborn, O.P. (; born 22 January 1945) is a Bohemian-born Austrian Dominican friar and theologian, who is a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Vienna ...

O.P.,

Archbishop of Vienna The Archbishop of Vienna is the prelate of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienna who is concurrently the metropolitan bishop of its ecclesiastical province which includes the dioceses of Eisenstadt, Linz and St. Pölten. From 1469 to 1513, ...

* Alois Schwarz, Bishop of Sankt Pölten * Werner Freistetter, Military Ordinary of Austria * Josef Marketz,

Bishop of Gurk The Bishop of Gurk is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk, which was established in 1072 as the first suffragan bishop by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in the Duchy of Carinthia. Initially performing the functions of a mere archiepisc ...

* Benno Elbs, Bishop of Feldkirch * Wilhelm Krautwaschl, Bishop of Graz-Seckau * Aegidius Zsifkovics,

Bishop of Eisenstadt The Roman Catholic Diocese of Eisenstadt ( la, Dioecesis Sideropolitanus) is a diocese located in the city of Eisenstadt in the Ecclesiastical province of Vienna in Austria. The episcopal seat is in Eisenstadt Cathedral. History * May 18, 1922: ...

* Hermann Glettler, Bishop of Innsbruck * Franz Scharl, Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna * Stephan Turnovszky, Auxiliary Bishop of Vienna * Hansjörg Hofer, Auxiliary Bishop of Salzburg * Anton Leichtfried, Auxiliary Bishop of Sankt Pölten * Vinzenz Wohlwend,

O.Cist. The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint B ...

, Abbot of

Chairmen

* Cardinal

Theodor Innitzer Theodor Innitzer (25 December 1875 – 9 October 1955) was Archbishop of Vienna and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. Early life Innitzer was born in Neugeschrei (Nové Zvolání), part of the town Weipert (Vejprty) in Bohemia, at that time ...

(1933–1955), Archbishop of Vienna * Archbishop Andreas Rohracher (1955–1959), Archbishop of Salzburg * Cardinal

Franz König Franz König (3 August 1905 – 13 March 2004) was an Austrian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as archbishop of Vienna from 1956 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1958. The last surviving cardinal elevated by Pope John ...

(1959–1985), Archbishop of Vienna * Archbishop Karl Berg, (1985–1989), Archbishop of Salzburg * Cardinal

Hans Hermann Groer Hans may refer to: __NOTOC__ People * Hans (name), a masculine given name * Hans Raj Hans, Indian singer and politician ** Navraj Hans, Indian singer, actor, entrepreneur, cricket player and performer, son of Hans Raj Hans ** Yuvraj Hans, Punjabi ...

, O.S.B. (1989–1995), Archbishop of Vienna * Bishop Johann Weber (1995–1998), Bishop of Graz–Seckau * Cardinal

O.P. (1998–2020), Archbishop of Vienna * Archbishop

O.F.M. (2020–present), Archbishop of Salzburg

References

External links

{{Authority control Episcopal conferences, Austria Catholic Church in Austria Christian organizations established in 1933