He was chosen to be Archbishop of Salzburg becoming on 21 December 1988, and following papal approval was consecrated on 26 February 1989 by his predecessor Karl Berg. That year he said AIDS was "a punishment from God for unnatural sexual behavior"; he opposed abortion even in cases of rape, reporting he had read that it rarely results in conception. He also opposed sex education programs. In 2000, he insisted that the memorial service for the victims of the Kaprun disaster include a Eucharist, which prevented the head of the evangelical church from participating. This provoked the greatest number of withdrawals from the church registers in the history of the Archdiocese.