In addition to studies and pastoral work in Belgium, Germany, and Luxembourg, he studied in Japan from 1985 to 1989 and worked there from 1994 to 2011.
On 21 April 1990 he was ordained a priest in Brussels. From 1990 to 1994 he earned a licentiate in German language and literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Until 2001 he was a doctoral student at the Centre for European Integration Studies in Bonn. On 18 October 2002, Hollerich took his perpetual vows in St. Ignatius' church in Tokyo. He is a member of the Japanese Jesuit province and was a professor of German, French and European studies (1994-2011) and Vice-Rector for General and Student Affairs of the Sophia University in Tokyo.[2]
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Hollerich Archbishop of Luxembourg on 12 July 2011.[2] He received his episcopal consecration on 16 October 2011 in the cathedral in Luxembourg from his predecessor Fernand Franck; the co-consecrators were the Archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Cardinal Meisner and the Archbishop of Tokyo, Peter Takeo Okada. He is the eighth Bishop and third Archbishop of Luxembourg.
He has held leadership positions in a number of European associations. He was President of the Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions from 2014 to 2018 and became President of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe's Commission for Youth in September 2017.[4] In March 2018, he was elected to a five-year term as president of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE).[5]Pope Francis appointed him to participate in the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth, Faith, and vocational discernment.[6]
On 5 October 2019, Pope Francis made him Cardinal-Priest of San Giovanni Crisostomo a Monte Sacro Alto.[7] Interviewed shortly afterwards, he supported the ordination of married men to the Catholic priesthood. He said: "I love my celibacy, I stand by it, but I see that married deacons can preach differently than I do, and I find that in itself a wonderful addition."[8]
In September 2020, he suggested that the limitations placed by the COVID-19 pandemic on access to the sacraments and church instruction programs will result in a smaller Church, because those who attend for cultural reasons will have learned to live without the Church. He thought this only exacerbated current trends, because "this merely cultural Catholicism, cannot last over time".[11] He also said he supported asking the "big questions" but hoped the anticipated German synod would recognize its obligations to the Church worldwide. He thought the most important question was the role of women in the Church and expressed a willingness to consider the ordination of women: "I just don't know. But I am open to it. It is clear, however, that the current situation is not enough. You have to see and notice that women have a say in the church."[12]
Hollerich said in an interview with the Croatian Catholic weekly, Glas Koncila, that while Pope Francis does not want the ordination of women, "I am a promoter of giving women more pastoral responsibility. And if we achieve that, then we can perhaps see if there still is a desire among women for ordination," he added.[13]
In 2022, Hollerich said he considered the church's teaching that homosexual relationships are sinful to be wrong: "I believe that the sociological-scientific foundation of this teaching is no longer correct."[15] In response, an anonymous memo later revealed to have been authored by Cardinal George Pell referred to Hollerich as "explicitly heretical."[16]
André Armand Vingt-Trois is a French cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Paris from 2005 to 2017, having previously served as Archbishop of Tours from 1999 to 2005. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 2007.
Polycarp Pengo is a Tanzanian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, from 1992 to 2019. A bishop since 1983, he was made a cardinal in 1998.
Marc Armand Ouellet is a Canadian Catholic prelate who served as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America from 2010 to 2023. He is a member of the Sulpicians.
Jean-Pierre Ricard is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Bordeaux from 2001 to 2019. He has been a cardinal since 2006. He was previously Bishop of Montpellier for five years and before that an auxiliary bishop in Grenoble. From 2001 to 2007 he was president of the French Episcopal Conference.
Leonardo Sandri is an Argentine prelate of the Catholic Church who has been a cardinal since November 2007 and vice dean of the College of Cardinals since January 2020. He was prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches from 2007 to 2022. He served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See from 1974 to 1991 in several overseas assignments, including as permanent observer of the Holy See before the Organization of American States from 1989 to 1991, and in Rome as Substitute for General Affairs in the Secretariat of State from 1999 to 2007.
Oswald Gracias is an Indian Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Bombay since 2006. He was made a cardinal in 2007. In 2008, he became vice-president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India. In 2010, he was elected president.
Willem Jacobus "Wim" Eijk is a Dutch prelate of the Catholic Church, a cardinal since 2012. He has been the Metropolitan Archbishop of Utrecht since 2007. He was Bishop of Groningen-Leeuwarden from 1999 to 2007. Before his clerical career he worked as a doctor; as a priest he made medical ethics the focus of his academic studies.
Juan de la Caridad García Rodríguez is a Cuban prelate of the Catholic Church who has served as Archbishop of Havana since 26 April 2016. He previously served as an Auxiliary Bishop of Camagüey from 1997 to 2002 and then as archbishop of that diocese from 2002 to 2016. He is a past president of the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops. Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal on 5 October 2019.
Franco Coppola is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church who has been Apostolic Nuncio to Belgium and Luxembourg since 2021. He has served in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1993.
Jozef De Kesel is a Belgian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels from 2015 to 2023. He previously served there as auxiliary bishop from 2002 to 2010. He served as Bishop of Bruges from 2010 to 2015 and was made a cardinal since 2016.
Ignatius Cardinal Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo is an Indonesian prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Jakarta since 2010, after serving as Archbishop of Semarang from 1997 to 2009. He is commonly known as Archbishop Suharyo.
The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union, formerly the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, is the association of Catholic Church episcopal conferences in member states of the European Union (EU) which officially represents those episcopal conferences at EU institutions. COMECE holds two meetings of the Plenary Assembly each year, which set out the main lines of its work. The Apostolic Nuncio to the European Communities participates in these meetings. A seminal issue of the European integration process provides the core theme of each meeting.
Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya was a Congolese prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Archbishop of Kinshasa from 2007 to 2018. He became a cardinal in 2010. He was widely recognized as a champion of peace, dialogue, and human rights.
Charles Maung Bo is a Burmese Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Yangon since 7 June 2003. He was created a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2015.
Ricardo Blázquez Pérez is a Spanish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Valladolid from 2010 to 2022. He had been a bishop since 1988 and was made a cardinal in 2015, when he was described as "a theological moderate and perennial counterweight to Spain's more doctrinally conservative and socially combative prelates".
Mario Grech is a Maltese Catholic prelate who has served as Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops since 2020. He was previously Bishop of Gozo from 2005 to 2019 and Pro-Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops from 2019 to 2020.
Pedro Ricardo Barreto Jimeno is a Peruvian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Huancayo from 2004 to 2024. He has been a cardinal since 2018.
Giuseppe Petrocchi is an Italian Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of L'Aquila from 2013 to 2024. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.
Jean-Marc Noël Aveline is a French prelate of the Catholic Church who was named Archbishop of Marseille on 8 August 2019 after serving as an auxiliary bishop there since 2013 and been a cardinal since 2022.
Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal C.J.M. is a Colombian prelate of the Catholic Church who was archbishop of Cartagena in from 2008 to 2021. He was bishop of Zipaquirá from 1992 to 1994 and archbishop coadjutor of Cartagena from 2004 to 2005.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
