Pope Leo appoints new archbishop of Vienna
October 17, 2025
» Continue to this story on Vatican Press Office
CWN Editor's Note: Pope Leo XIV today named Msgr. Josef Grünwidl, 62, as the new archbishop of Vienna, a see whose last ten archbishops have been created cardinals, dating back to 1858.
Ordained to the priesthood in 1988, Archbishop-designate Grünwidl was appointed by Pope Francis as the archdiocese’s apostolic administrator in January upon the retirement of Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, OP.
The Austrian bishops’ news agency noted that the archbishop-designate has called several times for the end of the discipline of mandatory priestly celibacy in the Latin rite—a discipline highly praised by the Second Vatican Council in its Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests.
The bishops’ news agency also reported that the archbishop-designate believes that the discussion of the ordination of women to the diaconate “should not be suppressed,” and that he is open to the appointment of women as cardinals.
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