Diocese of Limburg Dioecesis Limburgensis Bistum Limburg | |
|---|---|
 St George's Cathedral, Limburg | |
 Coat of arms | |
| Location | |
| Country |  Germany |
| Ecclesiastical province | Cologne |
| Metropolitan | Limburg, Hesse |
| Coordinates | 50°23′20″N8°04′00″E / 50.38889°N 8.06667°E /50.38889; 8.06667 |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 6,182 km2 (2,387 sq mi) |
Population
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| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 16 August 1821 |
| Cathedral | St George's Cathedral |
| Patron saint | St. George |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | Georg Bätzing |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Rainer Maria Woelki |
| Auxiliary Bishops | Thomas Löhr |
| Apostolic Administrator | Manfred Grothe |
| Vicar General | Wolfgang Rösch |
| Bishops emeritus | Gerhard PieschlAuxiliary Bishop Emeritus (1977–2009) |
| Map | |
 | |
| Website | |
| bistumlimburg.de | |
TheDiocese of Limburg (Latin:Dioecesis Limburgensis) is aLatin Churchdiocese of theCatholic Church in Germany. It belongs to theecclesiastical province of Cologne, with metropolitan see being theArchdiocese of Cologne.
Its territory encompasses parts of the States ofHesse andRhineland-Palatinate. Its cathedral church isSt George's Cathedral Limburg an der Lahn. The diocese's largest church isFrankfurt Cathedral, St. Bartholomew.
From October 2013, the administrator of the diocese during the suspension of BishopFranz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst isWolfgang Rösch. The Bishop later resigned. The Cathedral Chapter elected and on 1 July 2016,Pope Francis appointed the Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trier, Germany,Georg Bätzing, to serve as the next Bishop of the Diocese of Limburg, succeeding Bishop Tebartz-van Elst.[1] He was consecrated by theArchbishop of Cologne, CardinalRainer Woelki, on 18 September 2016.
At the end of 2008 the diocese had 2,386,000 inhabitants. About 28 per cent of them were Catholics.
The diocese is divided into multiple administrative districts. Each district is represented by a clerical dean.
The Diocese of Limburg was established in 1827, during the reorganization of Catholic diocese in the course of the secularization. It was initially established as a suffragan diocese of the ecclesiastical province Upper Rhine with its metropolitan seat in Freiburg im Breisgau. Its territory had before been under what is today theDiocese of Trier andDiocese of Mainz. The diocese, therefore, is a rather young diocese. Today it encompasses the former territory of theDuchy of Nassau, the city ofFrankfurt am Main,landgraviate Hesse-Homburg, and the former county Biedenkopf. In 1929, it was subordinated to the ecclesiastical province Cologne, according to the so-called Prussian Concordat.[13]
The first bishop of Limburg (1827–1833) was Jakob Brand. At that time, there were about 650,000 Catholics in the diocese (approx 27% of the total population in the area). The bishopFranz Kamphaus founded five theme churches. In 2005, he converted three parish churches to youth churches (Crossover in Limburg, Jona inFrankfurt and Kana inWiesbaden). Two more parish churches were converted in 2007 to theHoly Cross - Centre for Christian Meditation and Spirituality in theHoly Cross Church, Frankfurt-Bornheim[14] and the Centre for Mourning Counselling in the church St. Michael, Frankfurt-Nordend inFrankfurt. He stepped down after Pope Benedict XVI had accepted his retirement on 2 February 2007. He was succeeded by the auxiliary bishop of theDiocese of Münster, Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst who had been elected by the cathedral chapter. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 28 November 2007 and inaugurated by the Archbishop of CologneJoachim Cardinal Meisner.
In 2013 the Bishop of LimburgFranz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst was accused of lying and of squandering church money. He had a new episcopal headquarters built and was said to have lied about its cost, which has reportedly escalated from an initial 5.5 million euros to 31 million euros. He was also accused of flyingfirst class to India, where he went to help poor children.[15] He rejected calls to resign and the Vatican sent CardinalGiovanni Lajolo to try to resolve the situation.[16] The accusations were investigated by the church, which reported in 2014.[17] In parallel, the attorney general of Cologne investigated the bishop.[18]On 13 October the bishop travelled to Rome to discuss the situation with the Vatican Curia.[19]On 23 October 2013, Tebartz van-Elst was suspended by Pope Francis as bishop of Limburg, andWolfgang Rösch was named a newvicar general to administer the diocese in his absence.[20]
The "Synodal Way" was initiated by BishopWilhelm Kempf on 16 March 1969 in holding the first elections for a parish council. The basic idea is to have laity participate in important decisions concerning the diocese. “The main idea is to give every appointee a counterpart that consists of elected members who form a council.[21] Both bodies then are to discuss and decided certain issues." Accordingly, every appointed member of the clergy, such as a parish priest, faces a parish council that consists of elected members. On the next higher level, the pastoral realm, a clerical director faces the employees committee. On every "level" of the diocese, laity and appointed officials work together.
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| Dioceses | ||
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| Province of Bamberg | |
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| Province of Berlin | |
| Province of Cologne | |
| Province of Freiburg | |
| Province of Hamburg | |
| Province of Munich and Freising | |
| Province of Paderborn | |
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