Episcopal Conference of Austria

The Austrian Bishops' Conference (German: Österreichische Bischofskonferenz) is the official assembly of the Roman Catholic bishops of Austria. It is the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Austria, established as a formal body under public law in 1849. Its members include the archbishops of Vienna and Salzburg, all diocesan and auxiliary bishops, as well as the abbot of immediate Wettingen-Mehrerau Abbey.

2014 meeting of the Austrian Bishops' Conference with Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz (centre)

The Episcopal Conference represents the Catholic Church towards the Austrian Federal Government in all matters of legal relationships between church and state and freedom of religion. It is also the supreme ecclesiastical authority in Austria concerning Catholic canon law. The assembly is a member of the Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe (CCEE) and of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community. It also runs the official Catholic news agency Kathpress.

The current chairman of the Bishop's Conference is Franz Lackner, the Archbishop of Salzburg.

The Conference functions in accordance with the Documents of the Second Vatican Council, in particular the Christus Dominus Decree on the Pastoral Office of Bishops (37/38), the 1983 Code of Canon Law (Cann. 447–459), and its own constitutions. Its legal position as a formal corporation under public law and representative body of a state-recognised religious community was confirmed by a 1933 concordat between the Holy See and the First Austrian Republic.

Active Members

Conference Leadership

Members

Other

Chairmen
  • Cardinal Theodor Innitzer (1933–1955), Archbishop of Vienna
  • Archbishop Andreas Rohracher (1955–1959), Archbishop of Salzburg
  • Cardinal Franz König (1959–1985), Archbishop of Vienna
  • Archbishop Karl Berg, (1985–1989), Archbishop of Salzburg
  • Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, O.S.B. (1989–1995), Archbishop of Vienna
  • Bishop Johann Weber (1995–1998), Bishop of Graz–Seckau
  • Cardinal Christoph Schönborn O.P. (1998–2020), Archbishop of Vienna
  • Archbishop Franz Lackner O.F.M. (2020–present), Archbishop of Salzburg

See also

References
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