Michael von Faulhaber


Michael von Faulhaber
Cardinal, Archbishop of Munich and Freising
Faulhaber around 1936
ArchdioceseMunich and Freising
Appointed24 July 1917
Installed3 September 1917
Term ended12 June 1952
PredecessorFranziskus von Bettinger
SuccessorJoseph Wendel
Other post(s)Cardinal-Priest of S. Anastasia
Orders
Ordination1 August 1892
by Franz Joseph von Stein
Consecration19 February 1911
by Franziskus von Bettinger
Created cardinal7 March 1921
by Benedict XV
RankCardinal-Priest
Personal details
Born
Michael Faulhaber

(1869-03-05)5 March 1869
Died12 June 1952(1952-06-12) (aged 83)
Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
DenominationCatholic
Previous post(s)Bishop of Speyer (1911–1917)
Mottovox temporis vox Dei (the voice of the time is the voice of God)
Coat of armsMichael von Faulhaber's coat of arms
Memorial stone of von Faulhaber in the Munich Frauenkirche

Michael Ritter von Faulhaber (5 March 1869 – 12 June 1952) was a German Catholic prelate who served as Archbishop of Munich for 35 years, from 1917 to his death in 1952. Created Cardinal in 1921, von Faulhaber remained an outspoken monarchist and denounced the Weimar Republic as rooted in "perjury and treason" against the German Empire during a speech at the 62nd German Catholics' Day of 1922.[1][2] Cardinal von Faulhaber was a senior member and co-founder of the Amici Israel, a priestly association founded in Rome in 1926 with the goal of working toward the Jewish people's conversion to Roman Catholicism, while also seeking to combat antisemitism within the Church.[3]

After the Nazi Party seized control of German government in 1933, Cardinal von Faulhaber recognized the new Nazi government as legitimate, required Catholic clergy to be loyal to the government and maintained diplomatic bridges between the regime and the Church, while simultaneously condemning certain Nazi policies, including religious persecution of members of the clergy, and actively supporting anti-Nazi German Catholics such as Fritz Gerlich and other persecuted persons.[4] In 1937, Cardinal von Faulhaber was involved in drafting the anti-Nazi encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.[5] Von Faulhaber ordained Joseph Ratzinger (future Pope Benedict XVI) as a priest in 1951, and was the last surviving Cardinal appointed by Pope Benedict XV.

  1. ^ Michael Kardinal von Faulhaber: Rede zum 62. Deutschen Katholikentag, München (1922).
  2. ^ Derek Hastings, Catholicism and the Roots of Nazism, Oxford, p. 104
  3. ^ Hubert Wolf, Pope and Devil: the Vatican's archives and the Third Reich, pp. 89–90, Harvard University Press, 31 May 2010; Hill, Roland, A time out of joint: A journey from Nazi Germany to post-war Britain, The Radcliffe Press, 30 October 2007.
  4. ^ Nazis on the Run, Gerald Steinacher, p. 127; Beth A. Griech-Polelle, Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence and the Holocaust, pp. 128–129, Indiana University Press, 2007 ISBN 0-253-34873-0; Rudolf Morsey: Fritz Gerlich – Ein früher Gegner Hitlers und des Nationalsozialismus. Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn u. a. 2016, p 232; Lewy, 1964, p. 181.; "A fearless voice", Rabbi Stephen S. Wise on Faulhaber. Blamires, Cyprian, World fascism: a historical encyclopedia, Volume 1, p. 231, ABC-CLIO, 2006.
  5. ^ Phayer, Michael, The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965, p. 15, Indiana Univ. Press 2001.

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