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Archdiocese of Cologne Archidioecesis Coloniensis Erzbistum Köln | |
|---|---|
 Coat of Arms of the Archdiocese of Cologne | |
| Location | |
| Country |  Germany |
| Ecclesiastical province | Cologne |
| Metropolitan | Cologne,North Rhine-Westphalia |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 6,181 km2 (2,386 sq mi) |
Population
|
|
| Parishes | 514 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 313 |
| Cathedral | Cologne Cathedral |
| Patron saint | Saint Joseph Immaculate Conception |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | Rainer Woelki |
| Auxiliary Bishops | Dominik Schwaderlapp Ansgar Puff[1] Rolf Steinhauser |
| Vicar General | Guido Assmann |
| Map | |
 | |
| Website | |
| erzbistum-koeln.de (German) | |
TheArchdiocese of Cologne (Latin:Archidioecesis Coloniensis;German:Erzbistum Köln) is aLatin Churcharchdiocese of theCatholic Church in westernNorth Rhine-Westphalia and northernRhineland-Palatinate inGermany.
At an early date Christianity came toCologne with the Roman soldiers and traders. According toIrenaeus of Lyons, it was a bishop's see as early as the second century. However,Saint Maternus, a contemporary ofConstantine I, is the first historically certain bishop of Cologne. As a result of its favourable situation, the city survived the stormy period around thefall of the Western Roman Empire. When theFranks took possession of the country in the fifth century, it became a royal residence. On account of the services of the bishops to theMerovingian kings, the city was to have been the metropolitan see ofSaint Boniface, butMainz was chosen, for unknown reasons, and Cologne did not become an archbishopric until the time ofCharlemagne. The city suffered heavily fromViking invasions, especially in the autumn of 881, but recovered quickly from these calamities, especially during the reign of theOttonian emperors.[2]
From the mid-13th century, theElectorate of Cologne—not to be confused with the larger Archdiocese of Cologne—was one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of theHoly Roman Empire. The city of Cologne as such became a free city in 1288 and the archbishop eventually moved his residence fromCologne Cathedral toBonn to avoid conflicts with the Free City, which escaped his jurisdiction.
After 1795, the archbishopric's territories on the left bank of theRhine were occupied byFrance, and were formally annexed in 1801. TheReichsdeputationshauptschluss of 1803 secularized the rest of the archbishopric, giving the Duchy of Westphalia to theLandgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt. As an ecclesial government, however, the archdiocese remained (more or less) intact: while she lost the left bank including the episcopal city itself, Cologne, to the newDiocese of Aachen established under Napoleon's auspices, there still remained a substantial amount of territory on the right bank of the Rhine. After the death of the last Elector-Archbishop in 1801,the see was vacant for 23 years, being governed byvicar capitular Johann Herrmann Joseph v. Caspars zu Weiss and, after his death, by Johann Wilhelm Schmitz. In 1821, the archdiocese regained Cologne and the right bank of the Rhine (though with a new circumscription reflecting the Prussian subdivisions) and, in 1824, an archbishop was established there again. It remains an archdiocese to the present day, considered the most important one of Germany.
Cologne, the largest (in terms of inhabitants non-Catholics included) and reportedly richest diocese in Europe, announced in October 2013 that "in connection with the current discussion about Church finances" that its archbishop had reserves amounting to 166.2 million Euro in 2012. It said the 9.6 million Euro earnings from its investments were, as in previous years, added to the diocesan budget of 939 million Euro in 2012, three-quarters of which was financed by the "church tax" levied on churchgoers.[3] In 2015 the archdiocese for the first time published its financial accounts, which show assets worth more than £2bn. Documents posted on the archdiocesan website showed assets of €3.35bn (£2.5bn) at the end of 2013. Some € 2.4 billion (£1.8bn) were invested in stocks, funds and company holdings. A further €646m (£475m) were held in tangible assets, mostly property. Cash reserves and outstanding loans amounted to about €287m (£211m).[4]
The following is a list of the archbishops since the Archdiocese of Cologne was re-filled in 1824.
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This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.| Archdioceses |  | |
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| Dioceses | ||
| Other | ||
| 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 | |
| Sui iuris jurisdictions | |
50°56′29″N6°57′30″E / 50.9413°N 6.9582°E /50.9413; 6.9582
