About Der Pilger

Der Pilger

Der Pilger is the church newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Speyer in Rhineland-Palatinate, published by the diocese-owned Peregrinus GmbH in Speyer. Founded on 1 January 1848 as Der christliche Pilger, it is the oldest diocesan newspaper in Germany, predating even the Vatican's Osservatore Romano by more than a decade. After appearing weekly for most of its history, it has been published fortnightly since April 2025, with a sold circulation of around 7,200 copies. The paper reports on church life in the diocese and in the worldwide Catholic Church, comments on current events from a Catholic perspective, and combines religious content such as prayers and Sunday Gospel reflections with an entertainment section of stories, puzzles and recipes. It is also known for its readers' charity, the Aktion Silbermöwe, which has channelled around one million euros a year to missionaries and development projects since 1960.

Overview

Der Pilger occupies a special place in the German Catholic press landscape simply by virtue of its age: no other diocesan newspaper in the country has been published continuously for as long. The paper is aimed at Catholics in the Diocese of Speyer, which covers the southern part of Rhineland-Palatinate and parts of the Saarland, with its deaneries stretching from Kaiserslautern and Landau to Ludwigshafen and Pirmasens. Its readers are typically practising Catholics, parish volunteers and clergy who want a specifically Catholic view of both church affairs and the wider world.

The publication rhythm has changed several times in response to the pressures facing the printed press. Until March 2014 it appeared as a weekly newspaper; then it switched to 38 issues per year, and since 1 April 2025 it has been published every two weeks. The sold circulation reported to the German audit bureau IVW was 7,199 copies in the second quarter of 2025, a figure that reflects the long-term decline of church newspaper subscriptions across Germany but also a loyal core readership. The publisher is Peregrinus GmbH, a company founded in 2009 and wholly owned by the Diocese of Speyer, which also produces the quarterly lifestyle magazine der pilger – Magazin für die Reise durchs Leben.

Editorially, the paper is a classic diocesan newspaper with a modern service component. Its pages carry reports and portraits from parishes and church institutions in the diocese, coverage of the German bishops' conference and the Vatican, and commentary on political and social developments from a Catholic standpoint. Religious texts are a fixed part of the mix: prayers, meditations and interpretations of the Sunday Gospel readings. The entertainment section, with book and game recommendations, short stories, puzzles and cooking recipes, gives the paper a family-magazine character that distinguishes it from purely theological journals. Since January 2020, the supra-regional pages have been supplied by the central editorial office of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse in Osnabrück, a cooperation among Catholic diocesan publishers that pools resources for national and international coverage.

History

The first issue of Der christliche Pilger appeared on 1 January 1848, in the revolutionary year that also saw the Frankfurt National Assembly. Its founding made it 13 years older than the Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper founded in 1861, and the paper has advertised this seniority ever since. For its centenary in 1948, which was actually celebrated in 1950 because two volumes had been lost during the Second World War, it received congratulatory letters from Pope Pius XII and Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Munich.

The paper's history mirrors the turbulence of German history. During the Nazi era it was banned by the authorities, with publication interrupted from 1941/1942 until 1945. After the war it was re-founded by Nikolaus Lauer, who published it again and rebuilt its readership in the young Federal Republic. From 1920 until 2009 it was printed at the paper's own Pilger printing works in Speyer (Speyerer Pilger-Druckerei); in 2009 the diocese created the new publishing company Peregrinus GmbH to produce and distribute the diocesan newspaper.

In 1960 the paper shortened its name from Der christliche Pilger to Der Pilger, a change that took effect with the new volume year. The same year it founded the Aktion Silbermöwe, a readers' charity that collects donations for missionaries and development projects in the Global South and has raised on the order of one million euros annually. In 2017 the publisher launched a quarterly spin-off, der pilger – Magazin für die Reise durchs Leben, a nationwide lifestyle magazine with a Christian focus. The newspaper celebrated its 175th anniversary in 2023, and its complete run from 1848 onward was microfilmed by the Pfalzbibliothek between 2005 and 2007, making it available as a source for church, mission and social history.

Coverage and Content

The content of Der Pilger is organised around three pillars: the diocese, the universal Church, and the Catholic interpretation of the world. Diocesan coverage includes reports from parishes, pastoral initiatives, church renovations, personnel changes among clergy, and the work of Catholic associations and charities in the Palatinate and Saarland. The paper functions as a bulletin board and forum for the diocesan community, announcing events and documenting the life of the local church.

The second pillar is coverage of the worldwide Church: the Vatican, the German Bishops' Conference, synodal processes, and Catholic life in other countries. Since 2020 these supra-regional pages have come from the joint central editorial office of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse in Osnabrück, which serves several diocesan newspapers and allows the Pilger to offer professionally produced national and international church reporting despite its small circulation.

The third pillar is commentary and religious formation. The paper regularly comments on political and social events from a Catholic perspective, and it publishes prayers, meditations and exegesis of the current Sunday's Gospel. This devotional content is one of the paper's distinguishing features and a key reason for its loyal readership among older Catholics. The entertainment pages round out the offering with book and theatre recommendations, short stories, puzzles and recipes, deliberately addressing the whole family rather than just the theologically interested.

Organization and Ownership

Der Pilger is published by Peregrinus GmbH, based in Speyer, a company founded in 2009 that is fully owned by the Diocese of Speyer. The formal publisher (Herausgeber) is the Vicar General of the Diocese of Speyer, which underlines the paper's official character as the diocese's own publication. The managing director of Peregrinus GmbH is Marco Fraleoni, according to the paper's imprint data.

The editor-in-chief of the newspaper is Hubert Mathes. The quarterly magazine spin-off has its own editor-in-chief, Steffi Piening, a trained journalism graduate. Earlier editors who shaped the paper include Ferdinand Schlickel, a journalist and historian who led the paper for many years before his retirement and also headed the diocesan press office; Schlickel later wrote a 150-year history of the paper covering 1848 to 1998.

As a diocese-owned publication, Der Pilger is not a commercial enterprise in the usual sense. It is financed by subscriptions, advertising and diocesan funds, and its mission is defined by the diocese's communications mandate rather than by profit targets. The cooperation with the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse for the national pages reflects the economic reality of small church newspapers, which increasingly pool editorial resources to maintain quality while circulations decline.

Digital Presence

The paper's online home is der-pilger.de (also reachable as pilger-speyer.de), where current articles, an article archive and subscription information are available. The website carries diocesan news, selected articles from the print edition and service content, extending the paper's reach beyond its print subscribers. The archive function is particularly valuable given the paper's historical depth, with the microfilmed complete run from 1848 available through the Pfalzbibliothek for researchers.

The quarterly magazine has its own section on the website under der-pilger.de/magazin/, presenting the lifestyle-oriented spin-off with its own visual identity. The publisher also distributes free digital editions of the magazine through document platforms, widening its audience beyond the diocese.

On social media, the Pilger maintains a presence typical of a regional church newspaper, using the channels to share diocesan news, event announcements and selected stories. The digital strategy is modest and service-oriented rather than growth-driven: the core product remains the print edition for a loyal, largely older readership, supplemented by the website and the quarterly magazine, which addresses a younger, nationwide audience interested in faith and lifestyle topics. The Aktion Silbermöwe charity is also presented online, where donors can learn about the projects their contributions support.