Rainer Woelki

Rainer Woelki - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Rainer Woelki

Rainer Maria Woelki (born 18 August 1956) is a German Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Cologne since 2014. This came following his election by the Cathedral Chapter to succeed Joachim Meisner. He previously served as Archbishop of Berlin. He was made a cardinal in 2012.

This profile of Rainer Woelki covers Career and Rise to Fame, Archbishop of Berlin, Archbishop of Cologne and Handling of sexual child abuse cases.

Career and Rise to Fame of Rainer Woelki

Woelki was born on 18 August 1956 in Cologne, one of three children of parents who had been expelled from East Prussia at the end of the Second World War. He studied philosophy and theology at the Theological Faculties of the universities of Bonn and Freiburg im Breisgau. On 14 June 1985 Cardinal Joseph Höffner ordained him a priest for the Archdiocese of Cologne.

From 1985 to 1989 he was assistant priest at St Mary's Parish in Neuss. In 1989, he served for a short time as military chaplain in Münster. In 1990, he became private secretary to the Archbishop of Cologne.

From 1997 to 2011, he was Director of the "Collegium Albertinum", a residence for major seminarians of the archdiocese studying at the University of Bonn. In 1999, Pope John Paul II named him a Chaplain of His Holiness, with the title of Monsignor. In 2000, he obtained a doctorate in theology, with a thesis on the ecclesiological role of the parish, from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

On 24 February 2003, he was appointed Titular Bishop of Scampa and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cologne by Pope John Paul II. He was consecrated on 30 March 2003 by Cardinal Joachim Meisner. He chose as his episcopal motto "Nos sumus testes" ("We are witnesses"), from Acts 5:32.

As auxiliary bishop, he was given responsibility for the north of the archdiocese, including the cities of Düsseldorf and Wuppertal, and was episcopal vicar for the doctrine of the faith and ecumenism, as well as being in charge of the permanent diaconate.

Within the German Bishops' Conference, he became a member of the Commission for Vocations and Ministries of the Church and for Science and Culture. He was also appointed a consultor of the Holy See's Congregation for Catholic Education.

Archbishop of Berlin of Rainer Woelki

On 2 July 2011, Pope Benedict XVI ratified Woelki's election by the cathedral chapter of Berlin and appointed him Archbishop of Berlin. The announcement came just two days after the death of Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky, whose resignation from the governance of the see had been accepted in February 2011.

Woelki has been criticised by some German politicians for his language on homosexuality, which has led them to question his suitability for the post of archbishop in a city with a significant gay population. In an interview with the Catholic journalist George Schwikart, he described homosexuality as an offence against the "order of creation".

After his appointment he said, "We will meet with each other" when asked about the city's active gay community. "I have respect and esteem for all people independent of heritage, skin colour and individual nature. I am open to all without reservations." "The Church is not a moral institution that goes around pointing its finger at people," Woelki said. "The Church is for me a community of seekers and believers and the Church would like to help people find their happiness in life."

He was installed as archbishop of Berlin and took formal possession of his see on 27 August 2011. One of Woelki's first tasks was to prepare for the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI in Berlin in September 2011 on his first state visit to Germany, his third visit to his home country since he was elected as Pope in 2005.

On 6 January 2012, the Vatican announced that Woelki would be created a cardinal on 18 February along with 21 others. He was created Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni Maria Vianney, becoming the youngest member of the College of Cardinals, in succession to Reinhard Marx of Munich. But within the same year the creation of Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal and Luis Antonio Tagle as cardinals in November 2012 made Woelki the third youngest cardinal.

With his elevation, Woelki became eligible to vote in future papal conclaves and will remain eligible to participate in any that begin before his 80th birthday on 18 August 2036. He was appointed a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education in addition to his duties in Berlin.

He participated as a cardinal elector in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis and the 2025 papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.

In a speech in June 2012 Woelki said "I believe we should agree and indeed we do agree on the fact that in judging this type of relation or relationship there is a big difference in judgement when people take responsibility for one another, when engaged in a long-term relationship as couples do in heterosexual relationships."

In October 2012 Woelki was nominated for a Respect Award by the Alliance Against Homophobia. He was praised by the group for speaking out in favour of a "new cooperation with homosexuals in society" and officially meeting the Association for Gays and Lesbians for talks. This, the alliance said, had "broken the tension between his Church and gays and lesbians and had laid the foundations for further exchange and for a constructive dialogue". He declined the nomination.

In December 2012 Woelki unveiled a reorganisation in a pastoral letter for Advent to 105 local parishes. Woelki said the archdiocese's finances had "stabilized and improved" thanks to "courageous and responsible decisions" and "great sacrifices" by church institutions. He added that the archdiocese was forecast to lose a further third of its membership by 2030, and he said Catholic schools, nurseries, hospitals, elderly homes and information centers would also be reorganised to reflect this shift.

Archbishop of Cologne

On 11 July 2014 it was announced that Woelki would succeed Joachim Meisner as archbishop of Cologne. The announcement followed the completion of a complicated process that governs the determination of a new archbishop of Cologne and which requires several levels of ecclesiastical and civil review. Following Meisner's retirement, the archdiocesan cathedral chapter, which consists of the leading priests of the archdiocese, composed a list of candidates, which was passed to the pope via the papal nuncio in Berlin. He was installed in Cologne on 20 September.

The Holy See was entitled to amend the list of candidates before returning it to the cathedral chapter, which then elected from it the new archbishop. The ecclesiastical appointment had then to be further certified by the regional government in Düsseldorf. According to the terms of the concordat governing Catholic ecclesiastical affairs in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the regional parliament must certify that the newly nominated archbishop poses "no concerns of a political nature".

In October 2016 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments by Pope Francis for a five-year renewable term.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainer_Woelki), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.