Dean Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl nominated again for bishop election

Created: 03/18/2022, 20:46

Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl, Dean of the Evangelical Church District of Ulm, stands in Ulm Minster.

© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa/archive image

In the dispute over the election of a new Württemberg regional bishop, after hours of deliberations at the regional synod, a mutually agreeable solution is emerging.

The only candidate to stand for election on Saturday morning in a fifth vote is Ulm Dean Ernst-Wilhelm Gohl.

The nomination committee decided on Friday evening, said synod president Sabine Foth.

Stuttgart - All discussion groups that represent the various church interest groups are represented in the committee.

At the start of the synod, Gohl had already been on the ballot together with two other candidates on Thursday, but after two unsuccessful rounds he withdrew as third-place candidate.

Even before the synod, there was speculation that Gohl, who was born in 1963, could ultimately be nominated again as a compromise candidate by the faction-like discussion groups due to the complicated election system.

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The regional church is looking for a successor for the incumbent regional bishop, Frank Otfried July, who will reach the age of 68 in July.

He was elected to office in the first ballot in 2005.

The future incumbent will be elected for a ten-year term and will be inaugurated on July 24 in Stuttgart.

He becomes chief shepherd for around 1.9 million Protestants in Württemberg.

dpa