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 Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...

of the Roman

Catholic 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 ...

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 associat ...

s in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. Members include diocesan bishops, coadjutors, auxiliary bishops, and

diocesan administrator :''See: Catholic Church hierarchy#Equivalents of diocesan bishops in law'' A diocesan administrator is a provisional ordinary of a Roman Catholic particular church. Diocesan administrators in canon law The college of consultors elects an admini ...

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. Würzbur ...

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 of ...

") 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 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 **Ger ...

(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 Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

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 m ...

, 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's ...

, 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 O ...

, 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 Lawrence Gustave Murphy (1831 – October 20, 1878) was an Irish immigrant to the United States, Union Army veteran, Grand Army of the Republic member, Republican Party ward heeler, racketeer, Old West businessman and gunman, and a main ...

in Wisconsin, happened in a school for deaf children from 1950 to 1974.

Chairmen

Fulda Conference of Bishops (till 1965)

Johannes von Geissel Johannes von Geissel (5 February 1796 – 8 September 1864) was a German Catholic Archbishop of Cologne and Cardinal from the Electorate of the Palatinate. Life Gessel was born in Gimmeldingen in the Electorate of the Palatinate. After ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1848) *

Paulus Melchers Paul Melchers (6 January 1813 – 14 December 1895) was a Cardinal and Archbishop of Cologne. At the height of the ''Kulturkampf'' he took refuge in the Netherlands. Life Melchers was born in Münster. He studied law at Bonn (1830–33), ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1867-1883) *

Philipp Krementz Philipp Krementz (1 December 1819 – 6 May 1899) was a German Catholic bishop, created Cardinal in 1893. Philipp Krementz was born, the son of a butcher, in Koblenz in 1837 and began to study theology in Bonn, which he continued in Munich in 18 ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1884-1896) *

Georg von Kopp Georg von Kopp (25 July 1837 – 4 March 1914) was a German Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Bishop of Fulda (1881–87) and Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1887–1914). He was known for his anti-Polish views and pursued the Germ ...

, Cardinal, Prince-Bishop of Breslau (1897-1913) *

Felix von Hartmann Felix von Hartmann (15 December 1851 – 11 November 1919) was a German prelate, who was Archbishop of Cologne from 1912 to 1919. Life Felix von Hartmann was born in Münster, the child of the second marriage of government official Albert vo ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1914-1919) *

Adolf Bertram Adolf Bertram (14 March 1859 – 6 July 1945) was archbishop of Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland) and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Early life Adolf Bertram was born in Hildesheim, Royal Prussian Province of Hanover (now Lower Saxony), ...

, Cardinal, Prince-Archbishop of Breslau (1920-1945) *

Josef Frings Josef Richard Frings (6 February 1887 – 17 December 1978), was a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Cologne from 1942 to 1969. Considered a significant figure in Catholic resistance to Nazism, he was elevated to ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1945-1965)

German Bishops' Conference (since 1966)

* Julius Döpfner, Cardinal, Archbishop of Munich and Freising (1965–1976) *

Joseph Höffner Joseph Höffner (24 December 1906 – 16 October 1987) was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Cologne from 1969 to 1987 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969. Biography Born in Horhausen, Hö ...

, Cardinal, Archbishop of Cologne (1976-1987) * Karl Lehmann, Cardinal, Bishop of Mainz (1987-2008) * Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg (18 February 2008-12 March 2014) *

Reinhard Marx Reinhard Marx (born 21 September 1953) is a German Cardinal (Catholicism), 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. Biograp ...

, 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 Ni ...

, Bishop of Limburg (3 March 2020-present)

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

* Alfred Bengsch, Cardinal, Archbishop (personal title) of Berlin (1976–1979) *

Gerhard Schaffran Gerhard Schaffran (4 July 1912, in Leśnica, Górny Śląsk – 4 March 1996, in Dresden) was Papal consistory and Auxiliary bishop of Görlitz, of Breslau for the see of Görlitz and Bishop of Dresden-Meissen. Life Schaffran was the son of ...

, Bishop of Dresden-Meissen (1980–1982) * Joachim Meisner, Cardinal (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, Cardinal, 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