His Excellency Karl-Heinz Wiesemann | |
|---|---|
| Bishop of Speyer | |
 Bishop Dr. Karl-Heinz Wiesemann | |
| Diocese | Diocese of Speyer |
| Appointed | 19 December 2007 |
| Installed | 2 March 2008 |
| Predecessor | Anton Schlembach |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 10 October 1985 by Cardinal Franz König |
| Consecration | 8 September 2002 by Joachim Wanke |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 August 1960 |
| Nationality | German |
| Motto | Major Omni Laude |
| Coat of arms |  |
Karl-Heinz Wiesemann (born 1 August 1960) is the 96th Bishop of Speyer.
Wiesemann was born in Herford, North Rhine-Westphalia in the archdiocese of Paderborn. He became a chaplain on 10 October 1985 in Rome. He later served as a priest in Bösperde, a suburb of Menden and provost of St. Petrus and Andreas in Brilon.
In 2002 Pope John Paul II named him Auxiliary bishop, to which he was ordained on 8 September 2002 in Paderborn Cathedral.
On 19 December 2007 Pope Benedict XVI named him the successor to bishop Anton Schlembach. He was installed to the office on 2 March 2008 in Speyer Cathedral.
In January 2014, Wiesemann supported married priests in Roman-Catholic Church. [1] In February 2022, Wiesemann supported blessings of same-sex unions. [2] He promised to respect the consciences of priests who refuse to bless the unions, while asking them to refer the couples to the diocesan office. This office would then contact another priest willing to bless the union. Remarried couples are to be treated the same way. [3]
Since the 1990s, the Anglican Communion has struggled with controversy regarding homosexuality in the church. In 1998, the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops passed a resolution "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture". However, this is not legally binding. "Like all Lambeth Conference resolutions, it is not legally binding on all provinces of the Communion, including the Church of England, though it commends an essential and persuasive view of the attitude of the Communion." "Anglican national churches in Brazil, South Africa, South India, New Zealand and Canada have taken steps toward approving and celebrating same-sex relationships amid strong resistance among other national churches within the 80 million-member global body. The Episcopal Church in the U.S. has allowed same-sex marriage since 2015, and the Scottish Episcopal Church has allowed same-sex marriage since 2017." "Church of England clergy have appeared to signal support for gay marriage after they rejected a bishops' report which said that only a man and woman could marry in church." At General Synod in 2019, the Church of England announced that same-gender couples may remain recognised as married after one spouse experiences a gender transition. In 2023, the Church of England announced that it would authorise "prayers of thanksgiving, dedication and for God's blessing for same-sex couples."
The Bishop of Speyer is the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Speyer, which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Bamberg. The diocese covers an area of 5,893 km². The current bishop is Karl-Heinz Wiesemann.
The blessing or wedding of same-sex marriages and same-sex unions is an issue about which leaders of Christian churches are in ongoing disagreement. Traditionally, Christianity teaches that homosexual acts are sinful and that holy matrimony can only exist between two persons of different sexes. These disagreements are primarily centered on the interpretation of various scripture passages related to homosexuality, sacred tradition, and in some churches on varying understandings of homosexuality in terms of psychology, genetics and other scientific data. While numerous church bodies have widely varying practices and teachings, individual Christians of every major tradition are involved in practical (orthopraxy) discussions about how to respond to the issue.
The Diocese of Speyer is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. The diocese is located in the South of the Rhineland-Palatinate and comprises also the Saarpfalz district in the east of the Saarland. The bishop's see is in the Palatinate city of Speyer.
The Catholic Church in Germany or Roman Catholic Church in Germany is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church in communion with the Pope, assisted by the Roman Curia, and with the German bishops. The current "Speaker" of the episcopal conference is Georg Bätzing, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg. It is divided into 27 dioceses, 7 of them with the rank of metropolitan sees. All the archbishops and bishops are members of the Conference of German Bishops. Because of the church tax and also because of its substantial real estate holdings and other sources of income, it has an approximate net worth of $26 billion, making it the wealthiest part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church and the fourth wealthiest religious organization in the world in its own right.
The Archdiocese of Paderborn is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Germany; its seat is Paderborn. It was a diocese from its foundation in 799 until 1802, and again from 1821 until 1930. In 1930, it was promoted to an archdiocese. From 1281 until 1802, the Bishopric of Paderborn was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire.
Johannes Joachim Degenhardt was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Paderborn (Germany) from 1974 until his death in 2002. He was named Cardinal in 2001.
The Catholic Church condemns same-sex sexual activity and denies the validity of same-sex marriage. While the Church says it opposes "unjust" discrimination against homosexual persons, it supports what it considers "just" discrimination in the employment of teachers or athletic coaches, in adoption, in the military and in housing. The Catechism of the Catholic Church promulgated by Pope John Paul II considers sexual activity between members of the same sex to be a grave sin against chastity and sees homosexual attraction as objectively disordered. However, the Catechism also states that homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity". This teaching has developed through papal interventions, and influenced by theologians, including the Church Fathers.
Reinhard Marx is a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Pope Benedict XVI elevated Marx to the cardinalate in a consistory in 2010.
Anton Schlembach was a German Roman Catholic clergyman who served as the 95th Bishop of Speyer.
Jozef De Kesel is a Belgian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels from 2015 to 2023, where he had been auxiliary bishop from 2002 to 2010. He served as Bishop of Bruges from 2010 to 2015 and has been a cardinal since 2016.
Heinz Josef Algermissen was bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fulda from 2001 until 2018.
Philipp Christoph von Sötern was the Prince-Bishop of Speyer from 1610 to 1652 and the Archbishop-Elector of Trier from 1623 to 1652.
Adam Friedrich Graf von Seinsheim (1708–1779) was the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg from 1755 to 1779 and Prince-Bishop of Bamberg from 1757 to 1779.
Franz-Josef Hermann Bode is German prelate of the Catholic Church who was bishop of Osnabrück from 1995 to 2023. He has been a bishop since 1991 and Deputy Chairman of the German Bishops Conference since 2017. Within that Conference, he is considered one of the strongest advocates of expanding the role of women in the Church.
Georg Bätzing is a German Catholic theologian who has been Bishop of Limburg since 2016 and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since March 2020.
The Christian tradition has generally proscribed any and all noncoital genital activities, whether engaged in by couples or individuals, regardless of whether they were of the same or different sex. The position of the Roman Catholic Church with regards to homosexuality developed from the writings of Paul the Apostle and the teachings of the Church Fathers. These were in stark contrast to contemporary Greek and Roman attitudes towards same-sex relations which were more relaxed.
The Catholic Church has intervened in political discourses to enact legislative and constitutional provisions establishing marriage as the union of a man and a woman, resisting efforts by civil governments to establish either civil unions or same-sex marriage.
Dissent from the Catholic Church's teaching on homosexuality has come in a number of practical and ministerial arguments from both the clergy and the laity of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church teaches that while being gay is not a sin in and of itself, any sex outside of marriage, including between same-sex partners, is sinful, and therefore being gay makes one inclined towards this particular sin.
Fiducia supplicans is a 2023 declaration on Catholic doctrine that allows Catholic priests to bless couples who are not considered to be married according to church teaching, including the blessing of individuals in same-sex relationships. Subtitled "On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings", the document is dated 18 December 2023 and was released on the same day. Fiducia supplicans was issued by the Holy See's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and approved with a signature by Pope Francis. It was the first declaration issued by the DDF since Dominus Iesus in 2000.
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