Helmut Moll

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Helmut Moll (2011)

Helmut Moll (born July 2, 1944 in Euskirchen ) is a Roman Catholic priest and historian . He is the representative of the Archdiocese of Cologne for beatifications and canonizations , editor of the German Martyrology of the 20th Century and is considered an expert on Catholic hagiography and exorcism .

Life

Moll grew up on Annaturmplatz in Euskirchen, his parents are buried in Euskirchen. After graduating from the Quirinus Gymnasium in Neuss , he studied history and Catholic theology at the Universities of Bonn , Tübingen , Regensburg and Münster as well as in Rome at the Gregorian University and at the Pontifical Biblical Institute . In 1973 he was in Regensburg with Joseph Ratzinger with the work The Doctrine of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice. A study of the history of dogma from the New Testament to Irenaeus of Lyons graduated with a doctorate in theology . In 1976 he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Cologne .

At the instigation of the then Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Hubert Luthe , Moll was appointed diocesan advisor in the Archdiocese of Cologne for questions of doctrine of the faith. At a meeting with his doctoral supervisor Joseph Ratzinger, who had been head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Vatican since 1982 , he asked him in 1983 to come to him at the Roman Curia . From 1984 to 1995 Moll was a member of the teaching department of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome. Among other things, he dealt with the ecclesiastical evaluation of liberation theology and examined bioethical questions from the theological point of view, such as the permissibility of artificial insemination or the time of the beginning of human life . In 1993 he was also appointed Consultor of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints , for which he remained active until his departure in 2004.

In 1996, at the request of the then Cologne Cardinal Joachim Meisner , who had been chairman of the liturgy commission of the German Bishops 'Conference since 1989 , Moll was given the full-time management of a special office which, on behalf of the Bishops' Conference, developed the German Martyrology of the 20th Century , an extensive directory of German portrayals of life and German-born Catholic martyrs who Moll brought together in collaboration with historians and other experts from the German dioceses and religious orders . On November 18, 1999, he presented the first edition together with Cardinal Karl Lehmann , the chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, to Pope John Paul II , who initiated the documentation in 1994. In 2008 the work was awarded the Stephanus Prize of the “Stephanus Foundation for Persecuted Christians”. In September 2010 Moll Pope Benedict XVI. handed over the fifth edition, which has been expanded to include numerous names. Moll presented the sixth edition of the martyrology to Pope Francis on April 15, 2015. He also handed the seventh edition of the work to the Pope personally on May 8, 2019.

In 1998 he became responsible for the beatification and canonization procedures at the Archdiocese of Cologne. Moll accompanies, among other things, the beatification process of Friedrich Joseph Haass , the “holy doctor of Moscow” from Münstereifel .

In 1994 Helmut Moll was invested in the Knightly Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem . In 2004 Moll was appointed honorary professor for exegesis and hagiography at the private Gustav Siewerth Academy in Weilheim-Bierbronnen . He is a member of the Joseph Ratzinger student group . Moll has been a member of the Görres Society's scientific advisory board since 2015 .

Moll regularly gives lectures and lectures on exorcising the devil and is the author of a list of criteria for possession , but is not mentioned as an exorcist himself .

Honors

  • In 1995, Pope John Paul II appointed him an honorary papal prelate .
  • On July 20, 2017, Helmut Moll was awarded the August Benninghaus Prize in Ankum . The prize is awarded by the Friends of P. August Benninghaus SJ , which is dedicated to the memory of the Jesuit father August Benninghaus , who was born near Ankum in 1880 . He died in 1942 in the Dachau concentration camp and was included in The German Martyrology of the 20th Century in 2015 . According to the donors, the prize honors people who “have distinguished themselves through research and publication on witnesses of faith or through charitable activities in the spirit of Father Benninghaus”.

Fonts

  • Witnesses for Christ. The German martyrology of the 20th century. Edited on behalf of the German Bishops' Conference, Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 1999, 7th, revised and updated edition 2019, 2 volumes, ISBN 978-3-506-78012-6 .
  • "If we don't give our lives today ...", martyr of the Archdiocese of Cologne from the time of National Socialism. With a foreword by Joachim Cardinal Meisner, Bildungswerk der Erzdiözese Köln, Köln 1998, 8th expanded edition 2020, ISBN 3-931739-09-0 .
  • “White Rose” - smashed 60 years ago (PEK script). Press Office of the Archdiocese of Cologne, Cologne 2003.
  • The Catholic German Martyrs of the 20th Century. A directory. Schöningh, Paderborn 1999, 4th edition 2005, ISBN 3-506-75777-6 .
  • Martyrdom and Truth. Witnesses of Christ in the 20th century. Gustav Siewerth Academy, Weilheim-Bierbronnen 2005, 6th edition 2017, ISBN 3-928273-74-4 .
  • Blessed and holy couples. Dominus Verlag, Augsburg 2016, 3rd, revised edition 2020, ISBN 978-3-940879-48-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Stefan Lieser: Three Popes and the "Witnesses for Christ". In: Kölner Stadtanzeiger , October 9, 2015, accessed on May 28, 2019.
  2. ^ "Witnesses for Christ. The German Martyrology of the 20th Century". Press release No. PRD99-072 of the press office of the German Bishops 'Conference of November 18, 1999 (statement by Bishop Karl Lehmann, Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, on the presentation of the publication), accessed on May 30, 2019.
  3. ↑ Personal details . In: Die Tagespost No. 140, November 20, 2008, p. 4.
  4. ↑ Martyrs of the 20th century. In: Kath.net , September 3, 2010, accessed on May 29, 2019.
  5. ↑ Thomas Jansen ( KNA ): When one speaks of the devil…. In: Katholisch.de , May 9, 2014, accessed May 7, 2019.
  6. ↑ Agathe Lukassek: "Only the ignorant consider demonic powers to be fairy tales". In: Katholisch.de , April 18, 2016, accessed on May 7, 2019.
  7. ↑ Hugo Stamm : Come on the devil - the Vatican is training 200 exorcists. In: Watson , May 7, 2016, accessed May 7, 2019.
  8. ^ Website of the Freundeskreis P. August Benninghaus SJ , accessed in May 2019.
  9. ↑ Roland Müller: "The church has already survived many empires". In: Katholisch.de , July 20, 2017, accessed on May 28, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Minor, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and church historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 2, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Euskirchen