Joachim Meisner

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His Eminence
Joachim Meisner
Cardinal, Archbishop Emeritus of Cologne
File:Joachim Kardinal Meisner 2010.JPG
Oil on canvas by Gerd Mosbach
Church Cologne Cathedral
Archdiocese Cologne
Province Cologne
Metropolis Cologne
See Cologne
Appointed 20 December 1988
Installed 12 February 1989
Term ended 28 February 2014
Predecessor Joseph Höffner
Successor Rainer Maria Woelki
Other posts Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana
Orders
Ordination 22 December 1962
by Josef Freusberg
Consecration 17 May 1975
by Hugo Aufderbeck
Created Cardinal 2 February 1983
by Pope John Paul II
Rank Cardinal-Priest
Personal details
Birth name Joachim Meisner
Born (1933-12-25) 25 December 1933 (age 90)
Breslau, Prussia, German Reich
Nationality German
Denomination Roman Catholic
Previous post
Motto
  • Spes Nostra Firma Est Pro Vobis
  • (That our hope for you may be steadfast)
Coat of arms Joachim Meisner's coat of arms
Styles of
Joachim Meisner
200px
Reference style His Eminence
Spoken style Your Eminence
Informal style Cardinal
See Cologne

Joachim Meisner (born 25 December 1933) is a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He is the immediate past Archbishop of Cologne, serving from 1989 until his resignation was accepted by Pope Francis, for reasons of age in 2014.[1][2][3] He previously served as Bishop of Berlin from 1980 to 1989, and was created a cardinal in 1983.[4] He is widely considered to be Germany's leading conservative Catholic figure.[5][6][7]

Early life and ordination

Meisner was born in Breslau, which was then part of Germany, but is now known as Wrocław in southwestern Poland.[8] He studied at the seminary of Erfurt from 1959 to 1962,[8] and was ordained a deacon on 8 April 1962.[9] On 22 December 1962, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Josef Freusberg, an auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Fulda.[4]

Between 1963 and 1975, Meisner served as chaplain at St. Giles Parish in Heiligenstadt and Holy Cross Parish in Erfurt.[8] He also served as diocesan director of Caritas.[9] During his pastoral ministry, he furthered his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received his doctorate of theology in 1969.[3]

Bishop

In 1975, he was elected titular Bishop of Vina and auxiliary bishop to the Apostolic Administrator Erfurt-Meiningen. He was elected as a delegate to the Fourth Synod of Bishops at the Vatican in 1977, where he renewed a friendship with Karol Wojtyła. After Cardinal Wojtyła was elected Pope John Paul II, he appointed Meisner Bishop of Berlin in 1980, and proclaimed him Cardinal-Priest of Santa Pudenziana in the consistory of 2 February 1983.

In 1988 after the death of Joseph Höffner, Meisner was promoted to the position of Archbishop of Cologne, a post he continued to hold through 2014. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal Meisner was the bishop in charge for the XX. World Youth Day in August 2005 in the archdiocese in Cologne that attracted more than one million people. As the leader of Germany's biggest and wealthiest archdiocese, the Cardinal holds a very significant moral and social position, too.

Meisner regularly travels to the Vatican to meet Pope Benedict in private. On 21 October 2013, he met Pope Francis [1].

On Tuesday, 18 September 2012, Cardinal Meisner was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a Synod Father for the upcoming October 2012 Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.[10]

In February 2013 Cardinal Meisner has approved the use of some morning-after pills for rape victims after he announced they did not induce abortions and could be used in Catholic hospitals. He altered his policy after two Catholic hospitals refused to treat a rape victim because they could not prescribe the pill. The Catholic Church firmly opposes abortion and artificial birth control. Many Catholics see all emergency contraceptives as abortion-inducing drugs banned by this policy, but Meisner said some prevent fertilization and could be used in rape cases. "The German Bishops' Conference is holding a regular meeting in two weeks and the issue will certainly be on the agenda," Cologne archdiocese spokeswoman Nele Harbeke said.[11][12]

Cardinal Meisner participated in the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis.[13][14][15] At Pope Francis' inauguration, Cardinal Meisner was one of the six cardinals who made the public act of obedience on behalf of the College of Cardinals.[lower-alpha 1][16][17]

On 25 December 2013, Cardinal Meisner turned 80 and lost the right to participate in future conclaves; on the same day, he tended his resignation papers to the Pope, which were accepted.[18]

On 28 February 2014, his resignation as Archbishop took effect; diocesan administrator Stefan Heße will govern the archdiocese until a successor is appointed by the Pope.

Views

Papacy and Magisterium

Meisner is known for his support of the Pope and of the teachings of the Church. Pope John Paul asked for Cardinal Meisner to see him when he was in the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. Meisner had a very close relationship to Pope John Paul II and is a long time friend of Joseph Ratzinger, the later Pope Benedict XVI.

He said of Pope Benedict "He [Pope Benedict] has the intelligence of 12 professors and is as pious as a child on the day of his first communion."[19]

In 2009, Meisner "approached [Pope] Benedict on behalf of a number of cardinals to ask him to dump his Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone."[20][21] "According to the interview in the Frankfurter Rundschau, Meisner told Benedict: 'Your Holiness, you have to make Cardinal Bertone resign! He has the responsibility, like in a secular government.'[21][lower-alpha 2] According to Meisner, Benedict's response was: 'Listen to me carefully. Bertone will remain! Enough, enough, enough.'" [21][lower-alpha 3]

Culture and liturgy

"Wherever culture is separated from the worship of God, cult atrophies in ritualism and culture becomes degenerate", said Meisner at the blessing of his own archdiocese's new art museum, the Kolumba, on 14 September 2007. His choice of words recalled the phrase "entartete Kunst" ("degenerate art") used as the title of the exhibition opened by Adolf Hitler in Munich on 19 July 1937 and provoked strong negative reaction.[lower-alpha 4]

It was widely recognized that Meisner was criticizing the stained-glass window in Cologne Cathedral by Gerhard Richter, which was revealed just weeks before and of which he disapproved.[23][24][25]

Notable published works

Notes

  1. ↑ The other five cardinals were Giovanni Battista Re, Tarcisio Bertone, Jozef Tomko, Renato Raffaele Martino and Francesco Marchisano. Cardinals Re and Bertone represented the cardinal-bishops; Cardinals Martino and Marchisano represented the cardinal-deacons; and Cardinal Meisner himself along with Cardinal Tomko represented the cardinal priests.
  2. ↑ Heiliger Vater, Sie müssen Kardinal Bertone entlassen! Er ist der Verantwortliche – ähnlich wie der zuständige Minister in einer weltlichen Regierung.[20]
  3. ↑ Hör mir gut zu! Bertone bleibt! Basta! Basta! Basta![20]
  4. ↑ Although the Cardinal said his meaning was "that when art and religion are separated, both are damaged", and a spokesman for him said he had not intended to pay tribute to "old ideologies", a writer for an Internet site that describes itself as "the Internet platform against extremism of the right" accused him of using Goebbels-like incendiary language against artists, in a cowardly attack by one who "has control over a huge and wealthy empire that includes property, church media and the allegiance of millions of believers" against those who "are vulnerable within society: generally isolated, badly paid and rarely organized into trade unions or powerful professional bodies".[22]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.erzbistum-koeln.de/news/Praelat_Hesse_leitet_das_Erzbistum_in_der_Zeit_der_Vakanz/
  2. ↑ http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/02/28/0148/00316.html
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ http://www.microsofttranslator.com/BV.aspx?ref=IE8Activity&a=http%3A%2F%2Fpress.catholica.va%2Fnews_services%2Fbulletin%2Fnews%2F29673.php%3Findex%3D29673%26lang%3Den
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ http://www.ourdailythread.org/content/german-bishops-approve-plan-b-emergency-contraception-us-catholic-bishops-remain-silent
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate (Vatican video of Pope Francis' papal inauguration on YouTube
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Tara Holmes: Benedict XVI, BBC, 6 August 2009
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ New York Times: "Pixelated Stained Glass" 9 December 2007
  24. ↑ Die Welt: "Gerhard Richter weist Meisners Kritik zurück" 31 August 2007.
  25. ↑ Deutsche Welle: "Window by Artist Gerhard Richter Unveiled at Cologne Cathedral" 27 August 2007
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Wappen Erzbistum Köln.png
Archbishop of Cologne
1989–2014		 Succeeded by
Rainer Woelki
Preceded by Chairman of the Berlin Conference of Catholic Bishops
1982–1988		 Succeeded by
Joachim Wanke
Preceded by WappenEB-Berlin.jpg
Bishop of Berlin
1980–1988		 Succeeded by
Georg Sterzinsky
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