About Kirchenzeitung für das Erzbistum Köln

Kirchenzeitung für das Erzbistum Köln

The Kirchenzeitung für das Erzbistum Köln is the Catholic weekly newspaper for the Archdiocese of Cologne, published weekly in Cologne since 1937. With a sold circulation of around 12,000 copies, it reports on church life in Germany's largest diocese, on the universal church and on questions of faith, theology and society, appearing every Friday with 56 pages. Published by the J.P. Bachem Medien GmbH and issued by the Archbishop of Cologne, it is the only medium of the archdiocese not financed from church tax revenues, but essentially through subscriptions and advertising. Under editor-in-chief Robert Boecker, who led the paper for nearly four decades, the Kirchenzeitung has documented the archdiocese's modern history from the post-war reconstruction to the present, and it remains the medium that reaches more of the faithful each week than any other in the archdiocese.

Overview

The Kirchenzeitung für das Erzbistum Köln is a Roman Catholic weekly in the tradition of the German diocesan press. Its readers are the Catholics of the Archdiocese of Cologne, the largest diocese in Germany, covering the Rhineland from Düsseldorf to Bonn and from the Dutch border to the Sauerland. The paper informs its readers weekly about what is happening in the Catholic Church at their place of residence, in the archdiocese and in the universal church, placing this information in an overall context. The religious message is an essential element of the paper: it shares in the church's mission not by manipulating but by informing its readers transparently, honestly and credibly, while providing orientation in the values and principles of the Catholic faith.

The paper appears weekly on Fridays, with 56 pages per issue, in German. During the summer, autumn and Christmas holidays it appears every two weeks. The monthly subscription price is listed at around 13.30 euros including VAT and delivery. A dense network of correspondents ensures that every region of the archdiocese is treated equally, and reader surveys have shown that each copy is read by more than three people on average, multiplying the paper's reach well beyond its sold circulation. The editorial team works from the Bachem publishing house at Ursulaplatz 1 in Cologne.

The Kirchenzeitung is published with economic responsibility by the J.P. Bachem Medien GmbH, which bears the entrepreneurial risk. It is the only medium of the archdiocese that is not financed from church tax funds but essentially through subscription fees and advertising sales. The publisher is the Archbishop of Cologne, and the editor-in-chief is Robert Boecker. The paper's website, kirchenzeitung-koeln.de, extends the weekly into digital publishing, complemented by an e-paper and a mobile app.

History

The Kirchenzeitung was founded in 1937, in the difficult years of the National Socialist regime's pressure on the Catholic press. After the Second World War, the paper was re-established in March 1946, when the British military government granted the J.P. Bachem Verlag the necessary licence under the number C.1.236 P. The Bachem publishing house, a traditional Cologne media company, has published the Kirchenzeitung ever since, making it one of the longest continuous publisher-title relationships in the German church press.

The post-war decades saw the paper accompany the reconstruction of church life in the Rhineland and the transformation of German Catholicism through the Second Vatican Council. The Kirchenzeitung documented the council's reception in the parishes of the archdiocese, the social changes of the 1960s and 1970s, and the evolving role of the church in West German society. Major events in the archdiocese's modern history passed through its pages: the 750th anniversary of the laying of the Cologne Cathedral's foundation stone, the World Youth Day held in Cologne, and the countless parish jubilees, church renovations and pastoral initiatives of the decades.

Robert Boecker shaped the paper as editor-in-chief for nearly forty years, one of the longest editorial tenures in the German press. Under his leadership the Kirchenzeitung maintained its journalistic identity through the structural crisis of the diocesan press, as circulations declined from 120,000 in the 1980s to today's figures, a decline Boecker links closely to falling church attendance. The paper marked its 80th anniversary with a jubilee edition dedicated in part to its own history, with contributions from journalists and personalities of the archdiocese and a letter of thanks from the vicar general. A fundraising campaign for homeless people in Milan, initiated by the paper during the coronavirus pandemic and building a bridge between the Three Kings and the Italian city from which their relics were brought to Cologne centuries ago, raised 82,000 euros for Caritas Milan, an example of the paper's capacity to mobilise its readership.

Content and Sections

The content of the Kirchenzeitung is organised around the three levels of church life that define its mission: the local parish, the archdiocese and the universal church. Reports from the parishes and church institutions across the archdiocese form the backbone of each issue, with the correspondent network ensuring coverage from Düsseldorf to Bonn, from the Eifel to the Bergisches Land. Exemplary initiatives from parishes are presented to readers across the diocese, spreading good practice and strengthening the sense of a shared archdiocesan community.

World church coverage reports on the Vatican, the Pope and the universal church, while theology and faith sections address questions of belief, biblical interpretation and spiritual life. The paper gives significant space to the church-political debates of the German church, from the Synodal Way to the structural reforms of the archdiocese, with background reports and commentaries that aim to inform credibly rather than to take sides. Culture coverage includes church music, sacred art and the rich carnival and pilgrimage traditions of the Rhineland, in which the parishes play a central role.

The religious message runs through all sections as the paper's defining element. Unlike secular media reporting on the church, the Kirchenzeitung writes from within the faith, sharing in the church's mission through transparent and honest journalism. Service features, reader letters and announcements complete the weekly mix. The e-paper and the mobile app carry the full 56-page issue into digital form, while the website publishes selected content and the paper's social media channels on Facebook and Instagram extend its reach.

Publisher and Organization

The Kirchenzeitung für das Erzbistum Köln is published by the J.P. Bachem Medien GmbH, based at Ursulaplatz 1, 50668 Cologne. The Bachem publishing house has published the paper since its re-establishment in 1946, holding the British military government's licence C.1.236 P. The managing director is Claus Bachem. The paper is issued by the Archbishop of Cologne, and the editor-in-chief is Robert Boecker, who has led the editorial team for nearly four decades.

The editorial team includes the chief of staff Kathrin Becker and editors Bernd Hamer, Martin Mölder, Bernhard Raspels and Henning Martin Schoon. The paper appears weekly on Fridays with 56 pages, every two weeks during holiday periods. The sold circulation was 12,027 copies in the second quarter of 2025 according to the IVW. The paper is printed by the Rheinpfalz Verlag und Druckerei. As the only archdiocesan medium financed through subscriptions and advertising rather than church tax, the Kirchenzeitung operates under full entrepreneurial responsibility, a distinctive position within the German diocesan press.

Digital Presence

The digital presence of the Kirchenzeitung is centred on kirchenzeitung-koeln.de, the paper's website, which extends the weekly print edition with online articles and background content. An e-paper edition reproduces the full 56-page issue digitally, and the Kirchenzeitung Köln app, available for Android and iOS, makes the paper readable on mobile devices, with the app counting more than a thousand installations. The paper is also present on Facebook and Instagram under the kizkoeln handle, sharing news and faith content with its followers.

The archdiocese's cathedral library maintains a digital archive of the Kirchenzeitung, with past issues available as PDF downloads through the Dombibliothek's digital collections, preserving the paper's eight decades of reporting for researchers and interested readers. For the publisher, the digital channels are a complement to the print weekly rather than a replacement: as the long-serving editor-in-chief has emphasised, the paper's leadership continues to believe in the value of the printed issue, the tangible experience of holding the week's church news in one's hands. In an archdiocese undergoing profound structural change, the Kirchenzeitung's combination of a weekly print anchor, a digital archive and growing online channels keeps it the medium that reaches more of the faithful each week than any other in the archdiocese.