Erwin Josef Ender

Erwin Josef Ender (7 September 1937 – 19 December 2022)[1] was a German prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career in the diplomatic service of the Holy See. He was an archbishop and had the rank of nuncio since 1990.


Erwin Josef Ender
Apostolic Nuncio Emeritus of Germany
Titular Archbishop of Germania in Numidia
Appointed25 November 2003
Term ended15 October 2007
PredecessorGiovanni Lajolo
SuccessorJean-Claude Périsset
Orders
Ordination10 October 1965
by Julius Döpfner
Consecration5 April 1990
by John Paul II, Giovanni Battista Re, and Justin Francis Rigali
Personal details
Born(1937-09-07)7 September 1937
Died19 December 2022(2022-12-19) (aged 85)
Rome, Italy
NationalityGerman
Previous post(s)
MottoCHRISTUS RECONCILIATIO NOSTRA
Coat of armsErwin Josef Ender's coat of arms
Styles of
Erwin Josef Ender
Reference style
Spoken styleYour Excellency
Religious styleArchbishop

Biography

Erwin Josef Ender was born on 7 September 1937 in Steingrund in Lower Silesia Province (now Kamienna, Poland).[2] He spent his childhood there until the end of World War II when the region became part of Poland. The German population of Silesia was relocated and from 1945 on his family lived in Lüdinghausen in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.[3]

As a seminarian Ender studied philosophy and theology at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster and then at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Collegium Germanicum in Rome. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Münster on 10 October 1965.[2] He received his doctorate from the Gregorian in 1970 with a thesis on the work of John Henry Newman.

Ender then entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on 10 August 1970 and worked until 1990 in the offices of the Secretariat of State.[2]

On 15 March 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed him Titular Archbishop of Germania in Numidia and gave him two diplomatic assignments: Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Sudan and Apostolic Delegate to the Red Sea Region.[2] On 5 April he received his episcopal consecration from the Pope. On 26 March 1992, his title changed from Delegate to the Red Sea Region to Delegate to Somalia.[2] In Sudan in 1996, he accused the government of torturing a priest to extract a false confession of planning anti-government sabotage.[4]

On 9 July 1997, John Paul named him Apostolic Nuncio to the Baltic States: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.[2] A month later, on 9 August, he was given the additional responsibility of Apostolic Administrator of Estonia.

On 19 May 2001, he was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to the Czech Republic.[2]

On 25 November 2003, he was named Apostolic Nuncio to the Federal Republic of Germany.[5]

On 15 October 2007, Pope Benedict XVI accepted Ender's resignation as Apostolic Nuncio in Germany and appointed Jean-Claude Périsset as his successor.[6]

Pope Benedict named him a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples on 9 May 2009.[7] On 2011 he led the delegation of the Holy See to a United Nations-sponsored conference in Moscow on discrimination and persecution of Christians.[8]

See also

References

  1. Deutsche Bischofskonferenz trauert um Nuntius em. Erzbischof Erwin Josef Ender (in German)
  2. "Rinunce e Nomine, 19.05.2001" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 19 May 2001. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  3. "Gemeinsam Ostern feiern". Tag des Herrn (in German). Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  4. Rone, Jemera (1996). Behind the Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan. Human Rights Watch. p. 206. ISBN 9781564321640. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  5. "Rinunce e Nomine, 25.11.2003" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 25 November 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  6. "Rinunce e Nomine, 15.10.2007" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  7. "Rinunce e Nomine, 09.05.2009" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 9 May 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  8. "Statement Of H.E. Archbishop Erwin Josef Ender Apostolic Nuncio, Special Envoy Of The Holy See International Conference On The Discrimination And Persecution Against Christians Moscow, 30 November 2011". The Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations. 30 November 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2019.


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