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]
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