The Catholic Church in Germany (German: Katholische Kirche in Deutschland) or Roman Catholic Church in Germany (German: Römisch-katholische Kirche in Deutschland) 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" (i.e., the chairperson) of the episcopal conference is Georg Bätzing, Bishop of the Diocese of Limburg. 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 (22.6 million people as of December 2019), down 5% compared to the year 2000. Before the 1990 reunification of the Germany by accession of the former German Democratic Republic (or East Germany), 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.
Apart from its demographic weight, the Catholic Church in Germany has an old religious and cultural heritage, which reaches back to both Saint Boniface, "apostle of Germany" and first Archbishop of Mainz, buried in Fulda, and to Charlemagne, buried at Aachen Cathedral.
Notable religious sites include structures from Carolingian times to modern buildings. An indeed quite rudimentary list may name Quedlinburg, Maria Laach, Erfurt Cathedral, Eberbach, Lorsch Abbey with its remnant 'Torhalle' (gate hall), one of the oldest structures in Germany, Reichenau, Maulbronn, Weingarten, Banz and Vierzehnheiligen on the opposite hill, the Wieskirche, Ettal, Fürstenfeld, Sacred Heart in Munich (finished in 2000), Altötting and many more. Oberammergau is famous for the Passion Play staged every ten years.
The Catholic Church in Germany also boasts one of the most recognizable landmarks in all of the country, the Cologne Cathedral. Other notable Catholic cathedrals are in Aachen, with the throne and bury of Charlemagne, Augsburg, Bamberg, Berlin (St. Hedwig's Cathedral), with crypt of Bernhard Lichtenberg, Dresden, Proto-romanesque Hildesheim, Frankfurt, coronation church of the old Reich's Emperors, superseding Aachen, Freiburg, Freising, Fulda, Limburg, having decorated the reverse of the old, third series 500 Deutschmark banknote, Mainz (St. Martin's Cathedral), officially housing the only Holy see out of Rome and Jerusalem, Munich (Frauenkirche), with its onion domes and giant single roof, Münster, Paderborn, Passau, Regensburg, Speyer, one of the Rhenish Imperial cathedrals and Trier, the oldest in the country. With (ca.) 24.500 Church buildings all over the country and the above itemization only listing (some of the) current cathedrals, there would be many more sites to be mentioned if referring to landmarks: Abbeys, Minsters, basilicas, pilgrimage churches, chapels, ex-cathedrals (from a functional point of view), etc., covering a remarkable number of distinctively different layouts and styles from Romanesque to Post-modern. Some of these, as well as those mentioned above, are listed as World heritage sites.
