page_title: Catholic Church in Germany
section_title: Kulturkampf
hierarchical_section_title: Catholic Church in Germany / History of Catholicism in Germany / Kulturkampf
caption_attribution_description: English: Frauenkirche (Church of Our Blessed Lady) in Munich, Germany, as viewed from the tower of Peter's Church. Taken by myself with a Canon 5D and 24-105mm f/4L IS lens. Deutsch: Die Frauenkirche in München von der Peterskirche aus gesehen
context_page_description: The Catholic Church in Germany or Roman-Catholic Church in Germany is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope, assisted by the Roman Curia, and with the German bishops. The current "speaker" of the episcopal conference is Cardinal Reinhard Marx, metropolitan Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. It is divided into 27 dioceses, 7 of them with the rank of metropolitan sees. All the archbishops and bishops are members of the Conference of German Bishops. Due to a church tax compulsory for those who register civilly as Catholics, it is the wealthiest part of the Catholic Church in Europe.
  Secularization has had its impact in Germany as elsewhere in Europe; nevertheless, 27.2% of the total population is Catholic, down 5% compared to the year 2000. Before the 1990 unification of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, Catholics were 42% of the population of West Germany. What makes it easier to know religious statistics in Germany is that Christian taxpayers must declare their religious affiliation as church tax is deducted by the state to be passed on to the relevant church in the state where the taxpayer lives.
context_section_description: In the mid-19th century, the Catholic Church was also seen as a political power, even in Protestant Prussia, exerting a strong influence on many parts of life. However, from the Catholics' point of view (especially where Catholics were the majority as in the Rhineland Province, the Saar, Alsace and Loraine, and Silesia), Catholics often felt intimidated by self-consciously Protestant rulers, especially when an anti-Catholic campaign was carried on at many levels and would involve "the banishing of priests and nuns from the country, the driving of bishops from their chairs, the closing of schools, the confiscation of church property, the disruption of church gatherings, the disbanding of Catholic associations, and an open feud with the Vatican.
  Chancellor Bismarck regarded the Church as a threat, especially in view of its defense of the discriminated Polish minority.
  Laws enacted in the state of Prussia and in the empire in the early 1870s aimed at discriminating Catholics were resisted by the Church leading to heated public debates in the media and in the parliaments during which the term "Kulturkampf" gained widespread currency. Diplomatic ties with the Vatican were cut and additional laws were passed to quell Catholic opposition. This only resulted in more support by the Catholic population and more resistance by the Church. During the Kulturkampf, four bishops and 185 priests in defiance of the laws were tried and imprisoned and many more were fined or went into exile.
  After the death of Pius IX in 1878, Bismarck took up negotiations with more conciliatory Pope Leo XIII who proclaimed the end of the Kulturkampf on 23 May 1887.
caption: Munich Frauenkirche. Cathedral of the Archbishop of Munich and Freising.
exif: {"Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2009:01:30 23:40:04", "Image ExifOffset": "150", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/400", "EXIF FNumber": "9", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:08:19 00:00:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:08:19 00:00:00", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "540241/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "126797/20000", "EXIF FocalLength": "1000000000/19746709", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "51"}