The social scientist Irme Stetter-Karp becomes the new President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK).
The general assembly of the most important Catholic lay organization elected the 65-year-old from Baden-Württemberg on Friday in Berlin.
She will succeed Thomas Sternberg, who stopped running after six years.
Berlin - Stetter-Karp is currently Vice President of the German Caritas Association.
Ulrich Hemel, President of the Association of Catholic Entrepreneurs, also applied.
149 out of 190 participants voted for Stetter-Karp and 41 for Hemel. "I will really do it with passion," said Stetter-Karp.
The change in leadership comes at a critical time.
Together with the German Bishops' Conference, the ZdK organizes the reform process of the Catholic Church, the so-called Synodal Way.
It should help to slow down the decline in membership and to overcome the loss of trust after scandals about sexual abuse by priests.
Stetter-Karp has already acted as a delegate and co-moderator of the assembly of the Synodal Way.
She served the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart for decades.
There she headed the main Caritas department until she retired at the end of September 2020.
The mother of two adult children is a qualified social worker, qualified pedagogue and doctorate in social science.
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