Heiner Wilmer

Heiner Wilmer, S.C.J. (born 9 April 1961) is a German Catholic prelate who was named Bishop of Münster in March 2026. He served as the Bishop of Hildesheim from 2018 to 2026. He has been chairman of the German Bishops' Conference since February 2026. A member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart (Dehonians), he was provincial superior of the German Dehonians from 2007 to 2015 and superior general of the worldwide order from 2015 to 2018.

Heinrich Theodor Wilmer was born on 9 April 1961 in Schapen (Emsland) and grew up on his family's farm. In 1980, he graduated from the Leoninum, a high school operated by the Dehonians in Handrup near his hometown. In August 1980, he joined the Dehonians, and from 1980 to 1982, he studied at their novitiate in Freiburg. He took his first vows as a member of the order in 1982 and his final vows in 1985. He was attracted, he later explained, to the order's spirituality and experienced doubts and skepticism rather than a singular religious experience. He completed his studies in preparation for ordination in Freiburg and Paris.

He was ordained a priest on 31 May 1987 by Oskar Saier, Archbishop of Freiburg. He then studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, focusing on French philosophy. In 1991, Wilmer earned a doctorate in fundamental theology at the University of Freiburg with a dissertation on the concept of mysticism in the philosophy of Maurice Blondel. His work was awarded the Theology Faculty's Bernhard Welte Prize.