Wednesday, October 02, 2024

New Bishop of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart will be announced

Pope Francis will, on Wednesday (2nd. October), appoint the new bishop of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. 

As the Württemberg diocese announced on Tuesday, the new bishop will introduce himself to the public at noon in Rottenburg Cathedral. 

Those who have been appointed and elected by the Rottenburg cathedral chapter are not yet known. 

The name will be made public at 12 noon at the Vatican and in Rottenburg at the same time. 

The presentation of the new bishop will also be broadcast via live stream on the diocese website

After the age-related resignation of the office of Bishop Gebhard Fürst last December, Vicar General Clemens Stroppel temporarily headed the south-western German diocese until a new bishop was appointed.

The election was based on the Baden Concordat, closed in 1932. 

Accordingly, the Rottenburg cathedral chapter in the Vatican first submitted a list of "suitable candidates". 

For the first time, representatives of the ecclesiastical congregations and associations were also called upon to make proposals. 

The Vatican ambassador in Germany, Nuncio Nikola Eterovic, played an important role behind the scenes.

However, neither the Rottenburg proposals nor the Nuncio's report were binding on the Pope. He has freely created his own three-way list. 

According to the Baden Konkordat, at least one priest in the biscuit of Rottenburg-Stuttgart had to be among the three candidates. 

From these three proposals, the Rottenburg cathedral chapter then elected the future head of the Württemberg diocese.