Stephan Burger

Last updated
The Most Reverend

Stephan Burger
Archbishop of Freiburg
Metropolitan of the Upper Rhine Province
MKr33808 Stephan Burger (Deutsche Bischofskonferenz 2023 Wiesbaden).jpg
Burger in 2023
Church Roman Catholic Church
Province Province of Freiburg
Diocese Archdiocese of Freiburg
Predecessor Robert Zollitsch
Orders
Consecration29 June 2014
by  Karl Lehmann and Gebhard Fürst
Personal details
Born
Stephan Burger

(1962-04-29) 29 April 1962 (age 62)
Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
NationalityGerman
Denomination Roman Catholic Church
Coat of arms Coat of arms of Stephan Burger.svg

Stephan Burger (born 29 April 1962 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a German Roman Catholic clergyman. Since 2014 he has been Archbishop of Freiburg and Metropolitan Bishop of the Ecclesiastical Province of Freiburg.

Contents

Life and career

Stephan Burger grew up in Löffingen, Germany [1] with two brothers and a sister. [2] His brother Tutilo Burger has been archabbot of the benedictines of Beuron Archabbey since 2011. [2]

After going to primary school and middle school (Realschule), he went to boarding school at Immenstaad am Bodensee. He then entered the Collegium Borromaeum at Freiburg, which was then a hall of residence for those students of theology who intended to become priests, and studied philosophy and theology at the University of Freiburg and the University of Munich. On 20 May 1990 he was ordained a priest at Freiburg Minster and celebrated his first mass at St Michael's church in Löffingen. [3] Burger spent his first years as a priest at Tauberbischofsheim and Pforzheim. In 1995, he was first parish administrator and later parish priest of St Mauritius in Sankt Leon-Rot. Between 2004 and 2006, while continuing to work as a parish priest, he studied for a licentiate of Canon Law at the University of Münster.

Starting 2002, Burger worked as defender of the bond (defensor vinculi) at the officialate (diocesan tribunal) of the Archdiocese of Freiburg. In 2006, he became promotor iustitiae and in 2007, was appointed judicial vicar and leader of the diocesan court. In this function he supervised the process of beatification for Max Josef Metzger. He was a canon of the Archdiocese of Freiburg between 2013 and 2014. [4]

Archbishop of Freiburg

On 30 May 2014, Pope Francis appointed Burger to succeed Robert Zollitsch as Archbishop of Freiburg. [5] He received his episcopal consecration from his predecessor Robert Zollitsch in Freiburg Minster on 29 June 2014. The co-consecrators were Cardinal Karl Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz, and Gebhard Fürst, Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Burger chose Christus in cordibus ("Christ in the hearts") from the Letter of St Paul to the Ephesians (Eph 3:17) as his episcopal motto. [6]

His predecessor Robert Zollitsch called Burger "conservative in a good sense" during his introduction. [7]

During the autumn 2014 assembly of the German Bishops' Conference, he was made a member of the committee Weltkirche (Universal Church), president of the sub-committee for questions of development and the German episcopal charity Misereor, and member of the episcopal working committee for employment law. Since 2016, Burger is also president of the committee for Caritas, the German Catholic Relief Services. [8] [9]

Views and exercise of office (in selection)

Burger said in an April 2019 interview that abolishing the mandatory celibacy requirement for Catholic priests is possible under church law. The pope, as the Roman Catholic Church's supreme legislator, could change that, he said. However, he himself supports the celibacy of priests. [10] [11]

In a discussion evening with young Catholics in July 2021, which was broadcast publicly as a streaming video, Burger took a negative position against the ordination of women to the priesthood. He said, he personally has a hard time with that idea. [12] [13]

In 2018, Burger had rejected the ecclesiastical blessing of same-sex couples for the Archdiocese of Freiburg. [14] In his view, refusing the sacrament of marriage or ecclesiastical blessings in such cases does not constitute discrimination against same-sex couples. [15]

During Archbishop Burger's term of office respectiveley under his leadership, the 2022/2023 budget plan adopted at the end of 2021 classified the personnel at the management level of the Archdiocese of Freiburg in higher salary groups (in addition to the regular basic salary increases). The corresponding salaries were increased by up to ten percent or more by the higher salary groups, while the salary of the Archbishop himself was increased by just under six percent (upgrade from salary group B8 to B9). The procedure and the amount of the salary increases met with criticism, also in view of the sharp decline in membership and in the available financial resources of the archdiocese. The lack of involvement of bodies such as the church tax committee and the church tax representatives in the run-up to the reclassification was criticized. Georg Bier, Professor of Canon Law at the University of Freiburg, criticized that the archdiocese's approach contradicted the concept of salaries in the civil service and in the church service in Germany: a higher salary grade is generally only awarded if it is associated with a new function with new, more responsible tasks. [16] [17]

Honours

Stephan Burger is an honorary member of the Catholic student's association K.D.St.V. Wildenstein at Freiburg. [18]

In 2016, he has been appointed Knight Commander with Star of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre by Cardinal Edwin Frederick O'Brien, Grand Master of the Order, and was invested in Münster Cathedral on 21 May 2016 by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Grand Prior of the German Lieutenancy of the Order. Burger is member of the Delegation Albertus Magnus Freiburg. [19]

On 18 June 2016, Burger was appointed Conventual Chaplain ad honorem of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta during the general assembly of the German national association. [20] [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freiburg im Breisgau</span> City in Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Freiburg im Breisgau is the fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of about 355,000 (2021), while the greater Freiburg metropolitan area ("Einzugsgebiet") has about 660,000 (2018).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz</span> Latin Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Germany

The Diocese of Mainz, historically known in English as Mentz as well as by its French name Mayence, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was founded in 304, promoted in 780 to Metropolitan Archbishopric of Mainz and demoted back in 1802 to bishopric. The diocese is suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Freiburg. Its district is located in the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse. The seat of the diocese is in Mainz at the Cathedral dedicated to Saints Martin and Stephen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freiburg Minster</span> Church in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Freiburg Minster is the cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau, southwest Germany. The last duke of Zähringen had started the building around 1200 in romanesque style. The construction continued in 1230 in Gothic style. The minster was partly built on the foundations of an original church that had been there from the beginning of Freiburg, in 1120.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg</span> Roman catholic metropolitan archdiocese in Germany

The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Baden-Württemberg comprising the former states of Baden and Hohenzollern. The Archdiocese of Freiburg is led by an archbishop, who also serves as the metropolitan bishop of the Upper-Rhine ecclesiastical province for the suffragan dioceses of Mainz and Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Its seat is Freiburg Minster in Freiburg im Breisgau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Höffner</span>

Joseph Höffner was a German cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Cologne from 1969 to 1987 and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conrad Gröber</span> German Catholic priest and archbishop

Conrad Gröber was a Catholic priest and archbishop of the Archdiocese of Freiburg.

The German Bishops' Conference is the episcopal conference of the bishops of the Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany. Members include diocesan bishops, coadjutors, auxiliary bishops, and diocesan administrators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Zollitsch</span> German RC priest

Robert Zollitsch is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Freiburg im Breisgau from 2003 to 2013 and was Chairman of the German Episcopal Conference from 2008 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rainer Woelki</span> German Cardinal of the Catholic Church (born 1956)

Rainer Maria Woelki is a German Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been Archbishop of Cologne since his installation on 20 September 2014 following his election by the Cathedral Chapter to succeed Joachim Meisner in that position. He previously served as Archbishop of Berlin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Thissen</span>

Werner Thissen is a German prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Hamburg from 2002 until 2014 when he resigned and became Archbishop Emeritus of Hamburg.

The Freiburg Declaration is a June 2012 letter signed by rebel priests from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Freiburg calling for change to Catholic law forbidding communion to remarried divorcees. The archbishop for Freiburg, Robert Zollitsch, expressed disapproval of practices contrary to church law and requested that priests refrain from signing the declaration, and to retract any signatures already made.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trams in Freiburg im Breisgau</span> German network of tramways

The Freiburg im Breisgau tramway network is a network of tramways that forms part of the public transport system in Freiburg im Breisgau, a city in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Established in 1901, the network has been operated since its foundation by the company now known as Freiburger Verkehrs, and powered by electricity. The tramway network currently has five lines. The expansion of the tram network since 1980 has served as an example of the "renaissance of the trams" in Germany. As of 2023, 73 trams were available for regular use: 2 of these were high-floored, 36 partial and 35 low-floored. Almost the entirety of the network is located within Freiburg's urban area; only a few metres of the balloon loop at Gundelfinger Straße are located outside the boundary of Gundelfingen to the north of Freiburg. In total, the trams serve 20 out of the 28 districts in Freiburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günterstal Abbey</span>

Günterstal Abbey, earlier also Güntersthal Abbey, was a Cistercian nunnery that existed from 1221 to 1806 located in Günterstal, which today is a district in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zelt-Musik-Festival</span> Music festival in Freiburg, Germany

The Zelt-Musik-Festival (ZMF) has taken place every June and July since 1983 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. It lasts three weeks and counts up to 120,000 visitors each year. The program is very broad. There is music, art, theater, cabaret and sport in different tents and on open-air stages. According to the organizer it is the biggest and oldest music festival in Baden-Württemberg. Over the years, more than 600 regional and international artists offered a diverse program consisting of classic, jazz, rock, pop and world music, cabaret and children's program. Also, many newcomers have been promoted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georg Bätzing</span> German bishop and theologian

Georg Bätzing is a German Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Limburg since 2016 and chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since March 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary 2.0</span>

Mary 2.0 is a heterodox movement by Roman Catholic women in Germany to raise awareness of sexism, the mishandling of sexual abuse scandals, and other issues within the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Horn (politician)</span> Mayor of Freiburg im Breisgau

Martin Werner Walter Horn is a German politician. In 2018 he became mayor of Freiburg im Breisgau.

Bernhard Casper was a German philosopher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eisvögel USC Freiburg</span> German basketball team

Eisvögel USC Freiburg is a German women's professional basketball team based in Freiburg im Breisgau.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günterstal</span> District in Baden-Württemberg, Freiburg im Breisgau

The village Günterstal is the southernmost district of Freiburg im Breisgau. It is located in the so-called Bohrer-Tal area at the foot of the 1284 metre-high Schauinsland in the Günterstal district of the Black Forest. Due to this, Freiburg prides itself on being Germany's highest city. Günterstal has more than 2,000 inhabitants and is separated from Freiburg by a two-kilometre-wide meadow, the "Wonnhaldewiesen". The village was incorporated into Freiburg in 1890. The southern neighbouring municipality is Horben.

References

  1. ↑ Wappen für die beiden Theologen, Badische Zeitung, 27 August 2014, Retrieved 2015-09-08.
  2. 1 2 "Stephan Burger nun neuer Domkapitular" (in German). Schwarzwälder Bote. 2013-09-21. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  3. ↑ "Löffingen ist stolz auf Stephan Burger" (in German). Badische Zeitung. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  4. ↑ Offizial (in German). Career of Stephan Burger on ebfr.de. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  5. ↑ "Nomina dell'Arcivescovo di Freiburg im Breisgau (Germania)". Bolletino (in Italian). Sala Stampa della Santa Sede. 2014-05-30. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  6. ↑ Neuer Erzbischof von Freiburg: Grußbotschaft an die Gläubigen (in German). YouTube. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Stephan Burger ist neuer Erzbischof von Freiburg" (in German). Badische Zeitung. Retrieved 2014-06-07.
  8. ↑ "Pressebericht des Vorsitzenden der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz, Kardinal Reinhard Marx, anlässlich der Pressekonferenz zum Abschluss der Herbst-Vollversammlung der Deutschen Bischofskonferenz in Fulda am 26. September 2014" (PDF (114 KB)). Pressemeldung Nr. 165 (in German). Deutsche Bischofskonferenz. 2014-09-26. p. 18. Retrieved 2014-09-26.
  9. ↑ Deutsche Bischofskonferenz: Pressemeldung vom 20. September 2016 - Nr. 175 (in German).
  10. ↑ "Erzbischof Burger: Abschaffung des Zölibats ist möglich". Welt.de (in German). 2019-04-17. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  11. ↑ "Erzbischof Burger: Papst könnte Zölibat abschaffen". katholisch.de (in German). 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  12. ↑ "Freiburger Erzbischof Burger äußert sich gegen Frauen als Priesterinnen". Badische Zeitung (in German). 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  13. ↑ "#weiterhandeln - Dein Dinnerdate mit Erzbischof Stephan, live übertragen am 8. Juli 2021" (in German). Archdiocese of Freiburg on YouTube. 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2023-03-13., (as of min. 49:38)
  14. ↑ "Freiburger Erzbischof Burger will Homo-Ehepaaren keinen Segen geben". Badische Zeitung (in German). 2018-02-19. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  15. ↑ "#weiterhandeln - Dein Dinnerdate mit Erzbischof Stephan, live übertragen am 8. Juli 2021" (in German). Archdiocese of Freiburg on YouTube. 2021-07-08. Retrieved 2023-03-13., (as of min. 20:50)
  16. ↑ "Freiburger Erzdiözese genehmigt Führungskräften umstrittene Gehaltsanhebung in Krisenzeiten". Badische Zeitung (in German). 2023-04-11. Retrieved 2025-01-21.
  17. ↑ "Erzbistum Freiburg. Haushaltsplan 2022/2023" (PDF) (in German). Archdiocese of Freiburg . Retrieved 2025-01-22., (Included: Stellenplan = Staffing plan, pages 270 - 296)
  18. ↑ Segnung nach Umbau der Wildenstein. Freiburger Erzbischof Stephan Burger (Wld) singt kräftig mit – und ermutigt Archived 2016-07-19 at the Wayback Machine (in German), Academia 3-2016(109), p. 40
  19. ↑ Live Übertragungen aus dem St.-Paulus-Dom Münster: Pontifikalamt mit Investitur des Ritterordens vom Heiligen Grab zu Jerusalem (in German), Diocese of Münster, 21. Mai 2016
  20. ↑ Konstanz: Deutsche Assoziation des Souveränen Malteser Ritterordens in Konstanz (in German), Sovereign Military Order of Malta, 22 June 2016.
  21. ↑ Erzbischof Stephan Burger lobt Arbeit des Malteserordens (in German), Archdiocese of Freiburg, 18 June 2016.
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Archbishop of Freiburg
2014–present		Incumbent
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.