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Catholic Church in Germany

The Catholic Church in Germany (German: Katholische Kirche in Deutschland) or Roman Catholic Church in Germany (German: Römisch-katholische Kirche in Deutschland) is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church in communion with the Pope, assisted by the Roman Curia, and with the German bishops. The current "Speaker" (i.e., Chairman) of the episcopal conference is Georg Bätzing, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg. It is divided into 27 dioceses, 7 of them with the rank of metropolitan sees.[1]

"German Catholics" redirects here. For the 19th century dissident sect, see German Catholics (sect).


Catholic Church in Germany

Bonn, Germany

23.9 million (28.5%) (2022)

Growing rejection of the Church has had its impact in Germany; nevertheless, 28.5% of the total population remain Roman Catholic (23.9 million people as of December 2022).[2] Before the 1990 reunification of the Germany by accession of the former German Democratic Republic (or East Germany), Roman Catholics were 42% of the population of West Germany.[3] Religious demographic data is relatively accessible in Germany because, by law, all Christian taxpayers must declare their religious affiliation so that the church tax can be deducted by the state and passed on to the relevant church in the state where the taxpayer lives.[4]


Apart from its demographic weight, the Catholic Church in Germany has an old religious and cultural heritage, which reaches back to both Saint Boniface, the "Apostle of Germany" and the first Archbishop of Mainz, buried in Fulda, and to Charlemagne, buried at Aachen Cathedral.


Notable religious sites include structures from the Carolingian era to modern buildings. A cursory list may name Quedlinburg, Maria Laach, Erfurt Cathedral, Eberbach, Lorsch Abbey with its remnant 'Torhalle' (gate hall), one of the oldest structures in Germany, Reichenau, Maulbronn, Weingarten, Banz and Vierzehnheiligen on the opposite hill, the Wieskirche, Ettal, Fürstenfeld, Sacred Heart in Munich (finished in 2000), Altötting and many more. Oberammergau is famous for the Passion Play staged every ten years.


The Catholic Church in Germany also boasts one of the country's most recognizable landmarks, Cologne Cathedral. Other notable Roman Catholic cathedrals are in Aachen with the throne and tomb of Charlemagne, Augsburg, Bamberg, Berlin (St. Hedwig's Cathedral) with the crypt of Bernhard Lichtenberg, Dresden, proto-Romanesque Hildesheim, Frankfurt with the coronation church of the old Reich's Emperors (superseding Aachen), Freiburg, Freising, Fulda, Limburg which was depicted on the reverse of the old 500 Deutschmark banknote, Mainz with St. Martin's Cathedral) (the only Holy see other than Rome and Jerusalem), Munich Frauenkirche with its onion domes and giant single roof, Münster, Paderborn, Passau, Regensburg, Speyer with its Rhenish Imperial cathedral, and Trier with the oldest church in the country.[5] The country has a total of about 24,500 Church buildings including many additional religious landmarks: abbeys, minsters, basilicas, pilgrimage churches, chapels, and converted former cathedrals, built in a profusion of different layouts and styles, from Romanesque to post-modern. Many are listed as World Heritage Sites.

Traditionally, there were localities with Catholic majorities and cities of Protestant majorities; however, the mobility of modern society began to mix the population. Interconfessional married couples face the problem of not being able to share the same communion. Because of continuing secularization, most states have neither a Catholic nor a Protestant absolute majority (In addition to the ones with Catholic majorities mentioned above, there isn't single Protestant absolute majority in Germany.[26]).

[25]

Modern society is changing old structures. Exclusively Catholic environments are disintegrating, even in traditional areas like the state of where the Catholic majority was lost in the archdiocese of Munich (including the city of Munich and large parts of Upper Bavaria) as recently as in 2010.[27]

Bavaria

The number of Catholics who attend Sunday Mass has decreased (from 22% in 1990 to 13% in 2009).[29]

[28]

(KjG)

Katholische junge Gemeinde

(BDKJ)

Bund der Deutschen Katholischen Jugend

Apostolic Nuncio to Germany

Holy See - Germany relations

Holy See in Germany

- with colored map of the predominant denominations across the country

Religion in Germany

Protestantism in Germany

Eastern Orthodox Church in Germany

Further reading[edit]

Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany 1933-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). Zalar, Jeffery T. Reading and Rebellion in Catholic Germany, 1770-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018).

The Catholic Church in Germany

German Bishops' Conference

In Germany, Many Believers Balk at Tweak to Church Tax

Media related to Roman Catholic Church in Germany at Wikimedia Commons