Gerhard Maria Wagner (born 17 July 1954, Wartberg ob der Aist, Austria) is an Austrian

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 let ...

priest. He was appointed auxiliary bishop of

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

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 soverei ...

on 31 January 2009, but amidst controversy over his views that

sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

caused Hurricane Katrina, Wagner turned the post down on 15 February 2009.

Ordained ministry

On 10 October 1978, Wagner was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

to the priesthood of the

Roman 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 ...

by Cardinal

László Lékai László Lékai (12 March 1910 – 30 June 1986) was Archbishop of Esztergom and a Cardinal. He was ordained to the priesthood on 28 September 1934. He served as a faculty member at the Seminary of Veszprém and did pastoral work in the diocese ...

, Archbishop of Esztergom. Since 1988, he has been

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

Windischgarsten Windischgarsten is a municipality in the district of Kirchdorf an der Krems in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. Since 1964, the town has been classified as a Luftkurort, a mountain spa town. Geography Windischgarsten lies in the Traunvier ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, an ...

in the

Diocese 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 of ...

Episcopal appointment

On 31 January 2009, Wagner was appointed auxiliary bishop of

, Austria, by

. Amidst controversy over his views, Wagner resigned on 15 February 2009. Wagner's appointment as auxiliary bishop was met with controversy among Austrian Roman Catholics, with Linz Diocese Bishop

Ludwig Schwarz Ludwig Schwarz, S.D.B. (born 4 June 1940) is the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Linz, Austria. Life Ludwig Schwarz was the first of nine children and grew up in Most pri Bratislave. After the expulsion of his family from Slovakia in 1945, ...

supportive, an informal group of priests led by

church dean Franz Wild opposed, and Graz-Seckau Diocese Bishop Egon Kapellari optimistic that the "crisis" would be overcome by "good will" from both supporters and opponents. Two weeks after his appointment Wagner requested its revocation because of the widespread criticism. In those 2 weeks the number of people leaving the Church had quadrupled in his Linz congregation, with similar or even higher numbers in the neighbouring communities, many of the ex-parishioners naming Wagner's appointment as the reason for their departure. The ''

Times-Picayune ''The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate'' is an American newspaper published in New Orleans, Louisiana, since January 25, 1837. The current publication is the result of the 2019 acquisition of ''The Times-Picayune'' (itself a result of th ...

'' reported Wagner's announcement in an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

article concluding with a comparison between the Wagner situation and that surrounding 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 ...

's decision to lift the

excommunication Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, particularly Holocaust-denier Richard Williamson. The Vatican formally accepted the resignation and dispensed Wagner from his appointment on 2 March 2009.

Views

Wagner alleged that the '' Harry Potter'' novels partake of satanism. Wagner became widely known in the world press for his 2005 comment attributing Hurricane Katrina to God's ire toward the sins of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. James Gill, columnist for the New Orleans ''

'', satirically called for the Pope next to elevate Wagner as

Archbishop of New Orleans The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans ( la, Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae, french: Archidiocèse de la Nouvelle-Orléans, es, Arquidiócesis de Nueva Orleans) is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church spanning Jeffers ...

after protests from Roman Catholics in three New Orleans congregations over the merging of their churches by aging Archbishop Alfred Clifton Hughes. The churches had been depopulated in part by out-migration resulting from Hurricane Katrina. Indeed, two months after Gill's writing, Hughes was engaged in encouraging the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

to disembark from plans to host

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

, a supporter of

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

, as commencement speaker, and within days of Hughes' announcement of opposition to Obama's appearance the ''Times-Picayune'' published a letter to the editor urging that Hughes should instead have complained to the Pope about the short-lived appointment of Wagner to be auxiliary bishop of Linz.H. Bruce Shreves
Archbishop's outrage needed closer to home
''Times-Picayune'', 10 April 2009, Saint Tammany Edition, p. B6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Gerhard Maria 1954 births 20th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests Living people Pope Benedict XVI People from Freistadt District 21st-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests Religious controversies in Austria