Erwin Josef Ender (7 September 1937 – 19 December 2022) was a German prelate of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. He was an archbishop and had the rank of nuncio since 1990.

Biography

Erwin Josef Ender was born on 7 September 1937 in Steingrund in Lower Silesia Province (now Kamienna, Poland). He spent his childhood there until the end of World War II when the region became part of Poland. The German population of Silesia was relocated and from 1945 on his family lived in

Lüdinghausen Lüdinghausen (Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Lünkhusen'' or ''Lünksel'') is a town in Coesfeld (district), district of Coesfeld in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Dortmund-Ems Canal, approx. 25 km s ...

in the German state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. As a seminarian Ender studied philosophy and theology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster and then at the

Pontifical Gregorian University Pontifical Gregorian University (; also known as the Gregorian or Gregoriana), is a private university, private pontifical university in Rome, Italy. The Gregorian originated as a part of the Roman College, founded in 1551 by Ignatius of Loyo ...

and the

Collegium Germanicum The Collegio Teutonico (German College), historically often referred to by its Latin name Collegium Germanicum, is one of the Roman Colleges, Pontifical Colleges of Rome. The German College is the Pontifical College established for future ecclesi ...

in Rome. He was ordained a priest of the

Diocese of Münster 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 ...

on 10 October 1965. He received his doctorate from the Gregorian in 1970 with a thesis on the work of

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English Catholic theologian, academic, philosopher, historian, writer, and poet. He was previously an Anglican priest and after his conversion became a cardinal. He was an ...

. Ender then entered the diplomatic service of the

on 10 August 1970 and worked until 1990 in the offices of the Secretariat of State. On 15 March 1990,

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

appointed him

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

of Germania in Numidia and gave him two diplomatic assignments: Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Sudan and Apostolic Delegate to the Red Sea Region. On 5 April he received his episcopal consecration from the Pope. On 26 March 1992, his title changed from Delegate to the Red Sea Region to Delegate to Somalia. In Sudan in 1996, he accused the government of torturing a priest to extract a

false confession A false confession is an admission of guilt for a crime which the individual did not commit. Although such confessions seem counterintuitive, they can be made voluntarily, perhaps to protect a third party, or induced through coercive interrogatio ...

of planning anti-government sabotage. On 9 July 1997, John Paul named him

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio (; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international organization. A nuncio is ...

to the Baltic States:

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, Latvia, and

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. A month later, on 9 August, he was given the additional responsibility of

Apostolic Administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of Estonia. On 19 May 2001, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. On 25 November 2003, he was named Apostolic Nuncio to the Federal Republic of Germany. On 15 October 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

accepted Ender's resignation as Apostolic Nuncio in Germany and appointed

Jean-Claude Périsset Jean-Claude Périsset (born 13 April 1939) is a Swiss titular archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church and diplomat of the Holy See. He served as Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 2007 until his resignation in 2013. Biography Périsset was bor ...

as his successor. Pope Benedict named him a member of the

Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples The Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP; ) was a congregation (Roman Curia), congregation of the Roman Curia of the Catholic Church in Rome, responsible for Catholic missions, missionary work and related activities. It is also kn ...

on 9 May 2009. On 2011 he led the delegation of the Holy See to a United Nations-sponsored conference in Moscow on discrimination and persecution of Christians.

References

External links

Erwin Josef Ender at Catholic Hierarchy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ender, Erwin Josef 1937 births 2022 deaths People from Silesia Apostolic nuncios to Sudan Apostolic nuncios to Lithuania Apostolic nuncios to Estonia Apostolic nuncios to Latvia Apostolic nuncios to the Czech Republic Apostolic nuncios to Germany Apostolic nuncios to Somalia Pontifical Gregorian University alumni Cartellverband members Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany People from the Province of Lower Silesia German Roman Catholic titular archbishops

Biography

See also

References

External links