Berkley Center

Cardinal Reinhard Marx is archbishop of Munich and Freising and coordinator of the Vatican's Council on the Economy. He also serves as the head of the German Bishops' Conference and president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences in the European Union. Cardinal Marx has written and spoken widely on economic questions and the contemporary relevance of Catholic social teaching; he is the author of Das Kapital: A Plea for Man (2008). At the 2014 Synod of Bishops, Marx suggested that Church doctrine on family issues was not fully formed. He became a priest in 1979 and a bishop in 1996. Named bishop of Trier in 2001, in 2007 Pope Benedict XVI elevated him to archbishop of Munich and Friesing, a position Benedict himself once held. Marx has also served as a member of the Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace and the Congregation for Catholic Education. Marx was appointed to the Council of Cardinals in 2013.