The Bishop of Hildesheim in northern Germany, Heiner Wilmer SCJ, was elected Chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference on 24 February.
Wilmer was born on 9 April 1961 in Schapen (Emsland). In August 1980 he entered the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and made his perpetual profession in 1985. He was ordained to the priesthood on 31 May 1987 in Freiburg.
From 1987 to 1993 he studied in Rome and Freiburg. He subsequently served in various positions in Meppen, Vechta and the Bronx in New York, working both as a teacher and in educational leadership. Later he became headmaster of the Gymnasium Leoninum in Handrup.
From 2007 to 2015 Wilmer served as Provincial of the German Province of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Bonn. He then served as Superior General of the congregation in Rome until 2018.
On 6 April 2018 Pope Francis appointed him the 71st Bishop of Hildesheim. He was ordained bishop on 1 September 2018, when he took possession of the diocese.
Within the German Bishops’ Conference, Wilmer has served since September 2021 as Chairman of the Commission for Social and Societal Issues. From 2019 to 2024 he was Chairman of the German Commission Justitia et Pax.
Bishop Wilmer has visited Finland on several occasions. An interview with him was published in Fides in October 2017.
Fides