(GERMANY)
DW News (Deutsche Welle) [Bonn, Germany]
February 25, 2026
By Christopher Strack
The number of Christians in Germany is declining, and society is divided. However, Heiner Wilmer, the new chairman of the German Catholic Bishops’ Conference, is calling for unity and dialogue.
The new chairman of the Catholic German Bishops Conference, Heiner Wilmer, is four days older than his predecessor, Georg Bätzing: almost 65 years old. This is not what one would call a generational handover.
But Bishop Wilmer of Hildesheim, a town in northern Germany known for its historic churches, is different from most of the 55 German bishops. Wilmer belongs to the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an order with around 2,200 members active in some 40 countries worldwide. From 2015 to 2018, he was their superior general, with offices in Rome. In this role, he regularly traveled around the world. He also met the former Pope Francis at the Vatican on several occasions.
Some aspects of his career are reminiscent of that of the American Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, who was superior general of the Augustinian Order for 12 years, from 2001 to 2013.
Wilmer’s international background
Critics of Wilmer’s predecessor, Bätzing, occasionally pointed to his lack of knowledge of Italian, which would have been necessary to engage in dialogue or dispute with the Roman Curia. Wilmer, on the other hand, speaks multiple languages.
Among other places, he studied in Paris and Rome. As a young priest, he worked as a teacher for several months in Canada and for a year in the Bronx borough of New York City. In September 2018, after being consecrated as bishop at Hildesheim Cathedral, he delivered a speech in which he spoke in six languages: German, Spanish, English, French, Italian and Low German, the dialect spoken in western Lower Saxony, where he was raised on a farm.
What Wilmer said about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church
At his consecration as bishop in 2018, Wilmer also addressed the issue of sexual abuse, which has been a major topic for the Catholic Church in Germany since at least 2010.
He said that “the most difficult and painful issue” for him is “the connection between sexual violence and abuse of power in our Church.” Wilmer stated that he wants to “devote all his energy” to this issue.
A few months later, he went further and said in a newspaper interview, “The abuse of power is in the DNA of the Church,” adding that there needs to be a radical rethinking. This outraged conservative bishops and other members of the Church.
After his election as chairman of the Bishops’ Conference on February 24, Wilmer also addressed victims of sexual violence in the Church.
“Their voices carry weight,” he told journalists. Every effort to face up to past wrongdoings is given “depth and truth” by the testimony of the victims.
Wilmer’s first speech emphasizes reconciliation
In his first public statement, read from his smartphone and lasting a good six minutes, Wilmer emphasized the importance of synodality — i.e., the principle of dialogue in the Church — and stated that “the Holy Spirit lives not only in consensus, but also in disagreement.”
According to Wilmer, the Church wants to be an ambassador of peace. This is especially true in light of the many crises and political conflicts around the world. He also referred to the fourth anniversary of the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and made an appeal for peace in Ukraine after “four years full of suffering, full of destruction, full of tears.”
“We believe in the power of law over violence,” he said, referring to the “many trouble spots around the world.”
The Catholic Church has gone through a “difficult period,” Wilmer said in Würzburg. But his impression from visiting parishes is: “Yes, we have problems and challenges. But people of faith are in good spirits.” For many, the Church is an “important anchor.”
Wilmer expressed concern about “internal strife in Germany” and warned against “defeatism and a sense of impending doom.” He said that democracy organizes the discord within a society “in a just and peaceful manner.”
“Our democracy in Germany is a path that we want to follow, one that we must also practice ourselves,” he said.
Number of German Christians in decline
Germany has 84 million inhabitants; almost 20 million of them are Catholics, and almost 19 million are Protestants. The number of Christians in Germany is steadily declining because believers are leaving the church and the number of elderly church members who are dying far exceeds the number of new church members being baptized. Church buildings, places of worship, parsonages and vacant monasteries are being demolished or repurposed.
When it comes to ecclesiastical and theological issues, the Bishops’ Conference often appears divided. However, on an unusually emphatic and unanimous statement two years ago, the conference was remarkably united in its rejection of ethnic nationalism, racism and misanthropy. It was a clear rejection of the positions typically held by Germany’s far-right party, the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
A dynamic bishop
In Hildesheim, Wilmer occasionally gets around by bicycle, even within the diocese. At his first appearance, Wilmer appeared more dynamic and younger than his predecessor, Bätzing, despite being almost the same age. Bätzing had recently appeared tired. He had often sided with Catholic laypeople in Germany in controversies with Rome and had also been criticized by conservative German bishops.
Bätzing and Wilmer belong to the younger half of the 25 bishops currently serving in Germany. Leading clergy exemplify the aging clergy in Germany and Germany’s aging population.
This article was originally published in German.
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