Kurt Koch was born on 15 March 1950 in Emmenbrucke, in the Diocese of Basel, Switzerland. He studied theology at the University of Munich and at the University of Lucerne, graduating in 1975, and was ordained a priest on 20 June 1982. He served as parish priest of St. Marien in Bern until 1985 and as a lecturer in fundamental theology at Fribourg. He completed his doctorate in theology in 1987 and in 1989 became professor of dogmatic theology and liturgy at the University of Lucerne, becoming Rector of the faculty of theology in 1995. On 6 December 1995 he was appointed Bishop of Basel and was consecrated on 6 January 1996 in Rome. He was Vice-President of the Swiss Bishops' Conference from 1998 to 2006 and its President from 2007 to 2009.
On 1 July 2010 Benedict XVI appointed him President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, with the title of archbishop, and created him cardinal in the consistory of 20 November 2010, assigning him the deaconry of Nostra Signora del Sacro Cuore; on 3 May 2021 that title was elevated pro hac vice and he became a cardinal priest. He heads the office today as Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity and is also President of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. He participated in the conclave of March 2013, which elected Pope Francis, and was a cardinal elector again in the 2025 conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
He is a member of the Dicasteries for the Doctrine of the Faith, for the Eastern Churches, for the Causes of Saints, for Bishops, and for Interreligious Dialogue. In 2025 Pope Leo XIV also appointed him president of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need.
Consequential Quotes
The foundation of all ecumenism is prayer for unity. We can do no better thing than to pray for unity, because people alone cannot effect unity.
Dialogue is the only way to find peace, but the foundation of peace is justice.
His concept of ecumenism was that unity is not an ecclesial-political concept, but rather a concept of faith. The foundation of ecumenism is the faith that every member of the body of Christ receives at Baptism.
We, humankind, cannot find unity. We only make problems and divisions, as we see in the past but also in the present. Unity is always the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the best method for working towards this gift is prayer.
For us, it is very important that we can continue the relations with the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate in Moscow. But it is a very difficult situation, because it seems as though the Russian Orthodox Patriarchate supports this war, and we have another vision: as the Holy Father has said many times, this war is senseless and blasphemous. But we must keep open the door for relations.
It irritates me that new sources are being accepted alongside Scripture and tradition as sources of revelation; and it frightens me that this is happening — again — in Germany. That is because this phenomenon already existed during the National Socialist dictatorship, when the so-called ‘German Christians’ saw God’s new revelation in blood and soil and in the rise of Hitler.
Major Works & Initiatives
Professor and Rector, Faculty of Theology, University of Lucerne
Professor of dogmatic theology and liturgy from 1989, after a doctorate completed in 1987; he became Rector of the Lucerne faculty of theology in 1995, the year of his appointment as Bishop of Basel.
Head of the Holy See's office for Christian unity
Appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity on 1 July 2010, succeeding Cardinal Walter Kasper; he now heads the same office as Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.
President of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews
President, since 2010, of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, the role he holds alongside the Christian unity dicastery, as confirmed by Aid to the Church in Need.
President of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)
Appointed by Pope Leo XIV in 2025 as president of the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, succeeding Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, who had held the post for 14 years.
Controversies
'German Christians' comparison on the Synodal Path, 2022
In an interview with the German weekly Die Tagespost published on 29 September 2022, Koch said it irritated and frightened him that the German Synodal Path's orientation text accepted new sources of revelation alongside Scripture and tradition, adding that this phenomenon had already existed under National Socialism, when the so-called 'German Christians' saw God's new revelation in blood and soil and in the rise of Hitler. Bishop Georg Bätzing, president of the German bishops' conference, demanded a public apology and said the comparison placed Synodal Path participants in the horizon of the Nazi regime; Germany's commissioner for Jewish life, Felix Klein, also criticised the remarks. Koch said he had in no way compared the Synodal Path with Nazi ideology and never would, and that he had meant only a warning against treating the spirit of the times as a source of revelation. After meeting Bätzing in Rome on 4 October 2022, he apologised to all those who felt offended; Bätzing said the initial response was not satisfactory, while the German bishops' conference reported after the meeting that Koch had credibly assured Bätzing he had not intended to impute the ideology of the 1930s to the Synodal Path, and the two agreed the theological debate should continue.
Sources
- Holy See Press Office — biography
- Wikipedia
- Vatican News interview, January 2023 (republished by the Middle East Council of Churches)
- EWTN Vatican interview, 18 January 2023
- Catholic News Service — Synodal Path apology report, 5 October 2022 (The Catholic Spirit)
- Aid to the Church in Need — appointment as president, 2025