Cologne Cathedral
Church in Cologne
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| 2025 | Participated as a cardinal elector in the papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV. |
| April 3 2025 |
Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece
The Cologne Cathedral announced that artist Andrea Büttner would create a mural depicting the Torah ark's stone base, which was the original support for the Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece. Büttner won the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition with this piece aimed at highlighting Jewish history.
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| April 3 2025 | The cathedral chapter announced Andrea Büttner as the winner of the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition. Her proposed mural will feature a life-size realistic painting of a Torah ark stone base from a previous Cologne synagogue, to be placed in the Chapel of St. Mary. |
| August 2023 | The cathedral launched the Cologne Cathedral International Art Competition, calling for a new permanent artwork to acknowledge the history of Jewish-Christian relations. |
| March 2 2022 | Offered his resignation to the pope for a second time. |
| September 2021 | Met with Pope Francis and requested a six-month leave for spiritual reflection, which was granted. |
| May 2021 | A remote-controlled drone began a comprehensive photographic survey of the cathedral, taking 200,000 high-resolution photos to create a detailed 50 GB 3D digital model with 25 billion polygons. |
| March 23 2021 | Refused to resign following the release of a sexual abuse report, stating that resignation would be a 'short-lived symbol'. |
| 2020 |
Joachim Meisner
Posthumously accused by Cardinal Woelki of covering up sexual abuse in the archdiocese.
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| 2017 |
Judensau at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral
The cathedral chapter and Cologne Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation create a working group titled 'The Cathedral and the Jews' to address historical antisemitic elements.
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| July 5 2017 |
Joachim Meisner
Died while vacationing in Bad Füssing, Bavaria.
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| October 2016 | Appointed by Pope Francis as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments for a five-year term. |
| January 5 2015 | The cathedral remained dark as floodlights were switched off to protest a PEGIDA demonstration. |
| September 20 2014 | Officially installed as Archbishop of Cologne. |
| July 11 2014 | Announced as the successor to Joachim Meisner as archbishop of Cologne after a complex ecclesiastical and civil review process. |
| February 28 2014 |
Joachim Meisner
Submitted his resignation, which was accepted by Pope Francis.
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| 2013 | Woelki participated as a cardinal elector in the papal conclave that elected Pope Francis. |
| December 25 2013 |
Joachim Meisner
Turned 80 years old, losing the right to participate in future papal conclaves.
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| January 2013 |
Joachim Meisner
Approved the use of morning after pills for rape victims under specific conditions, distinguishing between different types of such medications.
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| October 2012 | Woelki was nominated for a Respect Award by the Alliance Against Homophobia for his efforts towards dialogue with the LGBTQ+ community, which he declined. |
| September 18 2012 |
Joachim Meisner
Appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a Synod Father for the October 2012 Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
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| January 6 2012 | The Vatican announced Woelki would be created a cardinal on 18 February, becoming the youngest member of the College of Cardinals at the time. |
| August 27 2011 | Woelki was officially installed as archbishop of Berlin and took formal possession of his see. |
| July 2 2011 | Pope Benedict XVI ratified Woelki's election and appointed him Archbishop of Berlin, just two days after the death of Georg Cardinal Sterzinsky. |
This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Adoration of the Magi Altarpiece (Lochner), Cologne Cathedral Seal, Rainer Woelki, Judensau at the choir stalls of Cologne Cathedral, Joachim Meisner & Cologne Cathedral, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.