The Diocese of Speyer (lat. Dioecesis Spirensis) is 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 ...

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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

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 ...

. The diocese is located in the South of the

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

and comprises also the Saarpfalz

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

in the east of the

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, a ...

. The bishop's see is in the Palatinate city of

Speyer Speyer (, older spelling ''Speier'', French: ''Spire,'' historical English: ''Spires''; pfl, Schbaija) is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany with approximately 50,000 inhabitants. Located on the left bank of the river Rhine, Speyer lie ...

. The current bishop is

Karl-Heinz Wiesemann Karl-Heinz Wiesemann (born 1 August 1960) is the 96th Bishop of Speyer. Life Wiesemann was born in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia in the archdiocese of Paderborn. He became a chaplain on 10 October 1985 in Rome. He later served as a priest ...

. As of 31 December 2006, 44.5% of the population of the diocese was Catholic.

History

In a slightly different hierarchic structure it is one of the oldest Dioceses in

. A bishop of Speyer was first mentioned in a document in 346. Through grants by the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

, the prince-bishops of Speyer established themselves as worldly as well as spiritual rulers. The ''Diocese of Speyer'' in its current form was established within the borders of the former

Rheinkreis The Circle of the Rhine (german: Rheinkreis) or Rhine Circle, sometimes the Bavarian ( or ), was the name given to the territory on the west bank of the Rhine from 1816 to 1837 which was one of 15 (later 8) administrative districts of the Kingdo ...

, a district of the

Kingdom of Bavaria The Kingdom of Bavaria (german: Königreich Bayern; ; spelled ''Baiern'' until 1825) was a German state that succeeded the former Electorate of Bavaria in 1805 and continued to exist until 1918. With the unification of Germany into the German ...

in 1817 after the

secularization In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses ...

and division of the former bishopric in 1803. For these historical reasons, Speyer belongs to the Province of

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castl ...

in Bavaria now, even though its territory has no direct border to Bamberg or any other Bamberg suffragan, and is a member of the Episcopal Conference of Bavaria as well as (like all Bavarian bishops) that of Germany.

Bishops

The current bishop is

. See also

Bishop of Speyer The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg.

for lists of bishops of the diocese and auxiliary bishops.

Administration

The diocese is directed by bishop Karl-Heinz Wiesemann. The diocese is structured in the following deaneries, with borders that are almost the same as the local county borders: 150906-Speyer-07

References

Speyer Speyer Diocese

Speyer Diocese Speyer Diocese {{Germany-stub