Reinhard Marx

Reinhard Marx (born 21 September 1953) is a German cardinal of the Catholic Church. He serves as the Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Pope Benedict XVI elevated Marx to the cardinalate in a consistory in 2010. Biography Born in Geseke, North Rhine-Westphalia, Marx was ordained to the priesthood, for the Archdiocese of Paderborn, by Archbishop Johannes Joachim Degenhardt on 2 June 1979. He had studied in Paris alongside future fellow Cardinal Philippe Barbarin. He obtained a doctorate in theology from the University of Bochum in 1989. On 23 July 1996, he was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Paderborn and Titular Bishop of Petina by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 21 September, his forty-third birthday, from Archbishop Degenhardt, with Bishops Hans Drewes and Paul Consbruch serving as co-consecrators. On 20 December 2001 he was named Bishop of Trier, the oldest diocese in Germany.