Josef Cardinal Frings

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Josef Frings (6 February 1887 - 17 December 1978), previously also known as Joseph Richard Frings was appointed Archbishop of Köln, Germany, on 1 May 1942, and was elevated to Cardinal on 18 February 1946. He retired on 10 February 1969.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Josef Cardinal Frings proclaimed that stealing coal from the railroad to keep your family warm was not a mortal sin, and that stealing food from those that had plenty in order to keep your family from starving would also be overlooked as a mortal sin. In Cologne (Köln) stealing coal from the railroad was then called "fringsen" (to frings), which was a sign of his great popularity.

He was a representative present at the Second Vatican Council, where he criticized the Holy Office (once known as the Inquisition). Acting as Fring's theological consultant at the council was Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI. Frings also was a honorary member of A.V. Rheinstein Köln, a catholic student fraternity that is a member of the Cartellverband der katholischen deutschen Studentenverbindungen.

After the death of Adolf Cardinal Bertram Cardinal Frings was also Chairman of the Fulda Conference of Catholic Bishops (1946-1965) and thus the highest representative of the Catholic Church in Germany. His successor as chairman of the Congregation of the German Bishops was Julius Cardinal Döpfner.