About der pilger – Magazin für die Reise durchs Leben

der pilger – Magazin für die Reise durchs Leben

der pilger – Magazin für die Reise durchs Leben is a quarterly German lifestyle magazine with a Christian focus, published by the diocese-owned Peregrinus GmbH in Speyer. Launched on 2 March 2017 as a spin-off of Der Pilger, Germany's oldest diocesan newspaper, it was conceived as a nationwide "mindstyle magazine" rather than a church bulletin. The first issue appeared with a print run of 100,000 copies and 140 pages, signalling ambitions well beyond the regional readership of its parent paper. Under editor-in-chief Steffi Piening, the magazine presents faith, spirituality and Christian values through the visual and editorial language of a modern lifestyle publication, with reportage, portraits and service journalism aimed at readers who would never pick up a traditional church newspaper.

Overview

The magazine represents the Diocese of Speyer's most ambitious attempt to reach people outside the regular churchgoing milieu. While the fortnightly newspaper Der Pilger serves the diocesan community with parish news and devotional content, the quarterly magazine deliberately steps out of that frame. It is sold and distributed nationwide, and its editorial concept borrows from secular lifestyle and women's magazines: large-format photography, personal stories, interviews with interesting personalities, and practical guidance for everyday life. The difference is the underlying perspective, which the publisher describes as a "mindstyle magazine with a Christian focus".

The first issue set the tone with its scale: 140 pages and a print run of 100,000 copies, a remarkable figure for a church-published magazine and a clear statement that the project was aimed at the national market. The magazine appears four times a year, with each issue built around themes that connect contemporary life questions with Christian spirituality: simplicity and sustainability, relationships and family, work and meaning, nature and creation, ageing and new beginnings.

The target audience is broader and younger than that of the parent newspaper. Where Der Pilger speaks to practising Catholics in the Palatinate and Saarland, the magazine addresses anyone interested in questions of meaning, values and a conscious lifestyle, regardless of how close they are to the institutional Church. Its contributors include professional journalists from the secular press, most prominently Beatrix Kruse, the former editor-in-chief of the women's magazine Brigitte, whose involvement lent the project credibility in the mainstream magazine world.

History

The magazine was launched on 2 March 2017, at a time when Germany's Catholic diocesan press was under severe economic pressure from declining subscriptions and an ageing readership. The Diocese of Speyer, which had founded its own publishing company Peregrinus GmbH in 2009, decided not merely to manage the decline of its 170-year-old newspaper but to create a new product for a new audience. The concept was developed within the publishing house: a quarterly magazine that would carry the trusted Pilger brand name but speak a completely different editorial language.

The choice of the subtitle, "Magazin für die Reise durchs Leben" (magazine for the journey through life), was programmatic. It positioned the publication as a companion for life's big questions rather than as a church organ, and it allowed the editors to range widely across topics from psychology and relationships to travel, nature and culture, always with a reflective, values-oriented undertone. The launch print run of 100,000 copies was distributed through the diocesan network, bookshops and selected retail channels, and the 140-page debut issue was designed to make an immediate visual impact.

In the years since its launch, the magazine has settled into its quarterly rhythm, with Steffi Piening as editor-in-chief. Piening, who studied journalism (Publizistik), has described her editorial approach as seeking out people who want to make a difference and inspire others with their energy and ideas, a credo that shapes the magazine's portrait and reportage sections. The magazine has continued to appear alongside the fortnightly newspaper, and the two products now form a complementary portfolio: the newspaper for the diocesan core audience, the magazine for the nationwide lifestyle market.

Coverage and Content

Each issue of the magazine is organised around life themes rather than news cycles. Typical topics include the art of simplicity, sustainable living, the search for meaning in work, relationships and family life, encounters with nature, and spiritual practices for everyday life. The treatment is journalistic and personal rather than theological: long-form portraits of people who live their convictions, reportage from interesting places and projects, and service articles with practical tips.

A distinctive feature is the way Christian faith is woven into the content without preaching. Articles might explore what surfing has to do with experiencing God, as in a piece on the Christian Surfers movement, or approach sustainability through the lens of voluntary simplicity and gratitude. Interviews with personalities from culture, society and the Church sit alongside essays on mindfulness, decelerating everyday life and dealing with crises. The visual presentation, with generous photography and a clean, modern layout, follows the conventions of high-quality lifestyle magazines.

The contributor network reflects the magazine's bridge-building ambition. Alongside church journalists, it features authors from the secular media world, bringing professional magazine craft to church-published content. The involvement of Beatrix Kruse, who led Brigitte, one of Germany's most successful women's magazines, was a signal that the project took editorial quality seriously and wanted to compete on the newsstand rather than merely serve as a diocesan giveaway.

Organization and Ownership

The magazine is published by Peregrinus GmbH in Speyer, the publishing company wholly owned by the Diocese of Speyer that also produces the fortnightly newspaper Der Pilger. The formal publisher is the diocese itself, and the magazine operates within the diocese's communications structures. The managing director of the publishing house is Marco Fraleoni.

Editorial responsibility lies with editor-in-chief Steffi Piening, a journalism graduate who has shaped the magazine's voice since its early years. The editorial team works from Speyer, drawing on freelance authors, photographers and contributors from across Germany. The magazine benefits from the infrastructure of the parent publishing house while maintaining its own distinct editorial identity, with separate design, imagery and tone from the newspaper.

Financing follows the model of a mission-driven publishing project: the magazine is sold through subscriptions and retail, supported by advertising, and backed by the diocese as part of its public communications work. The large launch print run and the continued quarterly publication indicate a long-term commitment rather than a one-off experiment, positioning the magazine as a permanent second pillar of the Pilger publishing portfolio.

Digital Presence

The magazine has its own dedicated section on the Pilger website at der-pilger.de/magazin/, where current and past issues are presented, subscription options are explained, and selected articles are published online. The web presentation mirrors the print product's clean, image-led design and serves as the magazine's shop window for new readers discovering it through search or social media.

The publisher also distributes free digital editions of the magazine through document and e-paper platforms, making full issues readable online without a subscription. This open-access approach to selected content functions as marketing for the print product and extends the magazine's reach to readers who encounter it by chance rather than through the diocesan network.

On social media, the magazine uses the visual strengths of its photography-led content, sharing portraits, reportage teasers and thematic posts. The digital strategy complements the quarterly print rhythm: between issues, the website and social channels keep the brand present with selected stories and thematic content, while the print magazine remains the flagship product. For a church-published title, the magazine's digital presentation is notably professional, reflecting its ambition to be judged by the standards of the commercial lifestyle press.