Reinhard Marx
His Eminence Reinhard Marx | |
|---|---|
| Cardinal Archbishop of Munich and Freising | |
| File:Kardinal Reinhard Marx.jpg Cardinal Marx in 2010 | |
| Appointed | 30 November 2007 |
| Installed | 2 February 2008 |
| Predecessor | Friedrich Wetter |
| Other post(s) | Cardinal-Priest of S. Corbiniano |
| Previous post(s) |
|
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 2 June 1979 by Johannes Joachim Degenhardt |
| Consecration | 21 September 1996 by Johannes Joachim Degenhardt |
| Created cardinal | 20 November 2010 |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Reinhard Marx 21 September 1953 Geseke, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Motto | ubi spiritus domini ibi libertas |
| Coat of arms |  |
Reinhard Marx (born 21 September 1953) is a German Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference. He serves as the Cardinal archbishop of Munich and Freising. Pope Benedict XVI elevated Cardinal Marx to the cardinalate in a consistory on 20 November 2010. At the time of his elevation, Cardinal Marx became the youngest member of the College of Cardinals, succeeding Péter Cardinal Erdő, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Budapest, who was elevated in 2003. He is eligible to vote in all papal conclaves which begin on or before 21 September 2033, his 80th birthday.
Biography
Born in Geseke, North Rhine-Westphalia, Cardinal Marx was ordained to the priesthood, for the Archdiocese of Paderborn, by Archbishop Johannes Joachim Degenhardt on 2 June 1979. He obtained a doctorate in theology, from the University of Bochum,[1] in 1989.
On 23 July 1996, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Paderborn and Titular Bishop of Petina by Pope John Paul II. Marx was ordained as bishop on the following 21 September (his forty-third birthday) by Archbishop Degenhardt, with Bishops Hans Drewes and Paul Consbruch serving as co-consecrators.
On 20 December 2001 he was named Bishop of Trier (the oldest diocese in Germany), succeeding Hermann Josef Spital nearly a year after the latter's retirement. Marx is considered to be rather conservative in matters of Church discipline, but also a "social scientist ... and whiz with the media".[2] Moreover, in 2003, he suspended a theologian for extending to Protestants an invitation to the Eucharist.[3]
| Styles of Reinhard Cardinal Marx | |
|---|---|
| |
| Reference style | His Eminence |
| Spoken style | Your Eminence |
| Informal style | Cardinal |
| See | Munich and Freising |
On 30 November 2007 Pope Benedict XVI appointed Reinhard Marx as Metropolitan Archbishop of Munich and Freising, a position that Benedict himself held from 1977 to 1981, . Rumours surrounding this were circulated before Pope Benedict's formal announcement, but Marx responded to these by saying, "The Pope names bishops, not the press".[3] On 2 February 2008, Marx was installed as Archbishop of Munich and Freising in the Munich Frauenkirche. He became Cardinal-Priest of San Corbiniano on 20 November 2010.[4] Cardinal Marx's title is that of Saint Corbinian who was the first bishop of Freising and of whom Cardinal Marx is the successor.
Cardinal Marx currently serves as head of the committee for social issues at the German Bishops' Conference. In addition to his duties as archbishop of Munich on 11 December 2010, Cardinal Marx was named by Pope Benedict as a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education for a five-year renewable term.[5] On 29 December 2010 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
In 2011, Marx was reported as saying that the Catholic Church has “has not always adopted the right tone” toward LGBT people. He went on to add that, while he cannot officially bless a union between two people of the same sex, he can (and implicitly will) pray for their relationship if asked.[6]
On 7 March 2012 he was appointed a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.[7]
On 22 March 2012, the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community elected Reinhard Cardinal Marx its president.
On 13 April 2013 he was appointed to a group cardinals established by Pope Francis, exactly a month after his election to advise him and to study a plan for revising the Apostolic Constitution on the Roman Curia, 'Pastor Bonus'. The other cardinals are Giuseppe Bertello, president of the Vatican City State governorate; Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa from Chile; Oswald Gracias from India; Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; George Pell from Australia; and Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga from Honduras. Bishop Marcello Semeraro, will act as secretary for the group. The group's first meeting has been scheduled for 1–3 October 2013. His Holiness is, however, currently in contact with the aforementioned cardinals.[8]
On the question whether the Church should allow remarried divorcees to Communion, it came to disagreements with Gerhard Ludwig Müller, the head of the Congregation of the Faith at the Vatican, in November 2013. Cardinal Marx called for a wide debate on the treatment of the Catholic Church with divorced and remarried.
When the Vatican suspended Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst in 2013 over his alleged lavish spending also Cardinal Reinhard Marx was criticized as he spent around $11 million renovating the archbishop’s residence and another $13 million for a guesthouse in Rome. [9]
On 19 February 2014 he was confirmed as a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches until the end of his current five year term.[10]
On 8 March 2014, he was named by Pope Francis as one of the Cardinal Members of the new Council for Economic Affairs, which will oversee the Secretariat for the Economy, a new financial regulatory department of the Roman Curia.[11]
On 12 March 2014 Cardinal Marx was also elected chairman of the German Bishops' Conference as successor of Robert Zollitsch. He was elected in Münster by the German bishops and auxiliary bishops only in the fifth round of voting in which a simple majority is sufficient.
Books by Reinhard Marx
Cardinal Marx launched in October 2008 a book ("Das Kapital: A Plea for Man"), named after the work by Karl Marx, that critiques capitalism. Reinhard Marx said the current worldwide financial crisis required a "fundamental social debate" and raised questions about the capacity of contemporary economies to "ensure the welfare of the world."
References
- ^ Marx, Reinhard, EWTN.com. Retrieved 27 May 2012
- ^ Whispers in the Loggia. Papa Ratzi's Hometown Heir? 28 November 2007
- ^ a b Whispers in the Loggia. Tomorrow: Hope, Munich and Media ... All By Noon 29 November 2007
- ^ Bollettino – Press Office of the Holy See
- ^ NOMINA DI MEMBRI DELLA CONGREGAZIONE PER L’EDUCAZIONE CATTOLICA
- ^ http://www.glaad.org/2011/08/08/german-cardinal-criticizes-roman-catholic-church-for-negative-tone-toward-lgbt-people
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ [4]
- ^ http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2014/03/08/0171/00360.html
External links
- Catholic-Hierarchy
- Template:De icon Archdiocese of Munich and Freising
- Template:De icon Diocese of Trier
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
- Use dmy dates from March 2013
- 1953 births
- Living people
- People from Soest (district)
- Roman Catholic Archbishops of Munich and Freising
- German cardinals
- German Roman Catholic bishops
- Bishops of Trier
- Cardinals created by Pope Benedict XVI
- Members of the Congregation for Catholic Education
- Members of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches