The Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Gebhard Fürst.
Picture: © katholisch.de
Nuncio informed him of his acceptance at the beginning of September

On his 75th birthday: Pope accepts Bishop Fürst's resignation from office

Stuttgart - It is now official: Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Rottenburg's Bishop Gebhard Fürst on his 75th birthday. The nuncio informed him of this at the beginning of September. Fürst himself made the announcement on Saturday evening.

Published  on 26.11.2023 at 11:40  – 

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Gebhard Fürst, Bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart. Fürst made the announcement on Saturday evening. The Pope's ambassador to Germany, Nuncio Nikola Eterovic, had informed him of this in a letter at the beginning of September. According to canon law, the resignation offer is obligatory on his 75th birthday. Fürst is the longest serving German local bishop. He offered his resignation on 15 August.

It was already known that he would step down on 2 December. Until now, it had only been stated that, following talks with Eterovic, Fürst firmly assumed that "the Holy Father will accept my resignation on my 75th birthday". The farewell is planned for 2 December, the day of his birthday. According to Fürst, Eterovic has confirmed his attendance at the farewell ceremony in the Rottenburg Festival Hall as well as at the Pontifical Mass in Rottenburg Cathedral. Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) and the Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, will also attend the farewell ceremony.

Longest-serving German local bishop since the resignation of Bishop Bode

In the Bishops' Conference, Fürst headed the Publicity Commission and was Spiritual Assistant to the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK) for 16 years. He still chairs the sub-commission on bioethics. Since the retirement of Osnabrück's Bishop Franz-Josef Bode, Fürst has been the longest-serving local bishop in Germany. The bishop of Germany's third-largest diocese is committed to a "pilgrim, contemporary, life-serving and creation-friendly church". He made 9 November, the anniversary of the Nazi November pogroms against Jews, a day of remembrance throughout the diocese. He has a strong interest in ecumenical cooperation.

Fürst was born in Bietigheim, north of Stuttgart. After leaving school, he studied theology in Tübingen and Vienna. He was ordained a priest in 1977. He completed his doctorate on Johann Gottfried Herder's theory of language. From 1986, he headed the diocese's own academy. Pope John Paul II appointed him bishop in 2000. (KNA)