Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky

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Georg Sterzinsky

Styles of Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky

Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Berlin

Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky (born 1936) is a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Berlin. Sterzinsky was born in Warlack (earlier also Wurlacken, Warlaucken), Kreis Heilsberg (district) in Warmia, Germany which is since 1945 part of Poland. He lost his mother as a child and his family took refuge in Thüringen, due to the expulsions following the end of the Second World War. Sterzinsky was ordained a priest in 1960. After serving as a parish priest for fifteen years, he became Vicar General to the Bishop of Berlin in 1981. In 1989, he himself was appointed Bishop of Berlin and, in 1994, while remaining at the See of Berlin, he was promoted to the position of archbishop.

Archbishop Sterzinsky was proclaimed a Cardinal Priest of the Church in 1991. He was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI.

In November, 2004, Sterzinksy made controversial comments relating to gay marriage. He argued in a sermon that it could be necessary for Catholics to protest and resist gay marriage laws "die dem Gesetz Gottes widersprechen" ("that are contradictory to the laws of God").