Notker Wolf OSB (born June 21, 1940 in Unterallgäu, Bavaria) is the current Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict. He was elected to his position as Abbot Primate in 2000, succeeding Marcel Rooney. He lives at the Confederation's headquarters at Sant'Anselmo in Rome. The position is largely honorary as the Benedictines are not a centralized order. That stated, he has a role as a roving ambassador for them and speaks on Benedictine or Catholic issues. Recently, in November 2009, the Abbot Primate received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Saint Anselm College.[1]
He is also a musician who has been performing both traditional Benedictine music and Christian rock since 1981. He plays electric guitar for Christian rock group Feedback and counts The Rolling Stones and ZZ Top as influences.
He admits that his view of Pope Benedict XVI was skeptical at first.[2] However, on covering the Pope's recent trip to Bavaria for German TV, he took a generally positive position. During the aftermath of the now infamous Regensburg lecture, he took the position that the Pope is primarily referring to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those who do force conversion rather than Islam as a whole.
Wolf is also interested in interfaith dialogue and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the Elijah Interfaith Institute.[3]