List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Germany
The Roman Catholic Church in Germany comprises 7 ecclesiastical provinces each headed by an archbishop. The provinces are in turn subdivided into 20 dioceses and 7 archdioceses each headed by a bishop or an archbishop.
List of Dioceses
Episcopal Conference of Germany
Ecclesiastical province of Bamberg
Ecclesiastical province of Berlin
Ecclesiastical province of Cologne
Alternative name: Rhenish Ecclesiastical Province
Ecclesiastical province of Freiburg im Breisgau
Alternative name: Upper Rhenish Ecclesiastical Province
Ecclesiastical province of Hamburg
Ecclesiastical province of Munich and Freising
Ecclesiastical province of Paderborn
Alternative name: Middle German Ecclesiastical Province
Former organisation of dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces in Germany
This list refers to the dioceses after their territorial reorganisation between 1821 and 1827, accounting for the border changes following the Napoleonic Wars.
Fulda Conference of Bishops
This conference, preceding today's Conference of German Bishops, was established as Würzburg Conference of Bishops (only 1848) and as a regular institution named Fulda Conference since 1867. Renamed into Conference of German Bishops in 1965.
Ecclesiastical Province of Bamberg
Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province
This ecclesiastical province emerged in 1930 and was dissolved in 1972. Diocesan areas east of the Oder-Neiße line were under apostolic administration by Polish clergy since 1945.
- Archdiocese of Breslau (Wrocław), since 1930, partially under Polish apostolic administration 1945–1972, then East German part dissected and the rest part of Polish episcopate
Ecclesiastical Province of Munich and Freising
Ecclesiastical Province of Gnesen-Posen
Middle German Ecclesiastical Province
Rhenish Ecclesiastical Province
Upper Rhenish Ecclesiastical Province
Exempt dioceses
- Apostolic Vicariate of Anhalt, after territorial cessions to Hildesheim diocese in 1834 merged in the Diocese of Paderborn in 1921
- Diocese of Berlin, exempt 1972–1994, then elevated to metropolia of the Ecclesiastical Province of Berlin
- Diocese of Breslau (Wrocław), exempt 1821–1930, then elevated to metropolia of the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province
- Diocese of Ermland (Warmia), exempt 1566–1930, then part of the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province
- Apostolic Administration of Görlitz, dissected from Breslau archdiocese in 1972, elevated to diocese in 1994 within the Ecclesiastical Province of Berlin
- Diocese of Hildesheim, exempt 1805–1930, then part of the Middle German Ecclesiastical Province
- Apostolic Prefecture of Meissen, elevated to Diocese of Meissen in 1921
- Diocese of Meissen, est. 1921, small diocesan area under Polish apostolic administration 1948–1972, then dissected, renamed Dresden-Meissen in 1980, part of the Ecclesiastical Province of Berlin since 1994
- Diocese of Metz, from France in 1871, to France in 1918/1919
- Apostolic Vicariate of the Nordic Missions, after territorial cessions renamed into Apostolic Vicariate of the Nordic Missions of Germany, merged in the Diocese of Osnabrück in 1930
- Diocese of Osnabrück, part of the Rhenish Ecclesiastical Province since 1930
- Apostolic Vicariate of the Saxon Hereditary Lands, merged in Diocese of Meissen in 1921
- Apostolic Prefecture of Schleswig-Holstein, dissected from Nordic Missions in 1868, newly Danish North Schleswig to Denmark apostolic vicariate in 1921, rest merged in Diocese of Osnabrück in 1930
- Diocese of Straßburg (Strasbourg), from France in 1871, to France in 1918/1919
- Apostolic Administration of Tütz, dissected from Gnesen-Posen and Culm in 1923, elevated to Schneidemühl prelature within Eastern German province in 1930
References