About KirchenZeitung

KirchenZeitung

The KirchenZeitung, with the subtitle "Die Woche im Bistum Hildesheim" (the week in the Diocese of Hildesheim), is the Catholic church newspaper for the Diocese of Hildesheim in Lower Saxony. Published every two weeks with a sold circulation of around 4,350 copies, it serves one of Germany's most geographically dispersed dioceses, stretching from Cuxhaven on the North Sea to Hann. Münden in the south. Issued by the Bishop of Hildesheim and published by the Bernward Mediengesellschaft, the paper reports on diocesan life, the universal church, culture, social policy and ethics, with its newsroom in Osnabrück shared with the sister titles of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse. Its digital home is the aussicht.online portal, where the Hildesheim title maintains its own section alongside the Kirchenbote and the Neue Kirchenzeitung.

Overview

The KirchenZeitung sees itself as a link within the far-flung diaspora diocese of Hildesheim, a diocese in which Catholics are a minority and parishes are spread across a vast area from the North Sea coast to the borders of Saxony-Anhalt. For readers in this diaspora situation, the paper provides orientation and community: news from the diocese's parishes and institutions, reports on the universal church and the Vatican, and coverage of the cultural, social and political issues that touch the lives of believers. The editorial programme covers diocesan affairs, world church topics, culture, social policy, ethics, state politics in Lower Saxony and Bremen, religious life and service journalism.

The paper appears every fourteen days in German and is available by print subscription and as a digital edition, with subscription terms published on the aussicht.online portal. The sold circulation was 4,352 copies in the second quarter of 2025, of which 3,999 went to subscribers, figures audited by the IVW. The publisher is the Bernward Mediengesellschaft mbH of Hildesheim, and the paper is issued by the Bishop of Hildesheim. The editorial office is located in Osnabrück, where the central editorial team of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse produces the supra-regional pages shared with the group's other titles. The head of the editorial office is Ulrich Waschki.

The KirchenZeitung is part of the northern German magazine family that also includes the Kirchenbote of Osnabrück and the Neue Kirchenzeitung of Hamburg, with a combined circulation of around 15,600 copies reaching up to 40,000 readers. Each title maintains its journalistic independence for diocesan coverage while sharing the centrally produced pages on the universal church and general interest topics. For the Hildesheim diocese, whose Catholics live scattered across cities, small towns and rural areas, the KirchenZeitung has long functioned as a unifying medium, carrying news from distant parishes to readers who might otherwise have little contact with diocesan life beyond their own community.

History

The history of the Hildesheim diocesan press goes back to 1933, when the first Hildesheim diocesan paper was published by Erich Riebartsch. During the National Socialist era the paper was repeatedly suspended and was finally banned altogether in 1941, as the regime suppressed the Catholic press. After the Second World War, the KirchenZeitung was re-established in 1946, resuming its mission of informing and connecting the Catholics of the diocese in the difficult years of reconstruction.

The current title in its modern form dates to 3 June 1996, when the KirchenZeitung was relaunched as "Die Woche im Bistum Hildesheim". In the following decades the paper accompanied the profound changes in the diocese: the decline in church membership, the merging of parishes into larger pastoral units, and the financial pressures that have reshaped the German church. The paper documented these developments with a journalism that combined loyalty to the diocese with critical reporting on its challenges.

The structural transformation of the diocesan press reached Hildesheim with the cooperation agreements of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse, through which the Hildesheim title shares production and supra-regional content with the church newspapers of ten other dioceses. Like its Osnabrück sister title, the KirchenZeitung moved to a fortnightly rhythm, concentrating its journalism in fewer, more substantial issues. The digital expansion on the aussicht.online portal gave the Hildesheim title a daily updated online presence alongside the print edition, with news from the diocese published continuously between issues.

Content and Sections

The content of the KirchenZeitung reflects the needs of a diaspora diocese. Diocesan reporting covers the parishes and institutions from Cuxhaven to Hann. Münden, from the Weser to the Saxony-Anhalt border: parish festivals, church renovations, pastoral initiatives, and the people who sustain Catholic life in a minority situation. The paper gives particular attention to the challenges of the diaspora, from long distances between parishes to ecumenical cooperation with the Protestant majority church.

World church coverage brings reports from the Vatican, the Pope and the universal church, as well as developments in the German church as a whole, through the supra-regional pages produced in Osnabrück. Culture, social policy and ethics sections address the broader questions of public life: social justice, migration, bioethics, and the church's social teaching applied to current debates. State politics coverage follows the Lower Saxony and Bremen governments on issues affecting the church, from education and religious instruction to social policy and church-state relations.

Religious life features offer spiritual orientation: interpretations of the Sunday readings, reports on pilgrimages and spiritual movements, and portraits of believers. Service journalism provides practical information for church involvement and everyday life. The aussicht.online portal extends the print content with daily news from the diocese, photo galleries and background articles, ensuring that readers are informed between the fortnightly print issues.

Publisher and Organization

The KirchenZeitung is published by the Bernward Mediengesellschaft mbH of Hildesheim, one of the three shareholders of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse, alongside the St. Benno Buch- und Zeitschriftenverlagsgesellschaft of Leipzig and the Verlag Kirchenbote of Osnabrück. The Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse, based in Osnabrück, unites publishers producing church newspapers for eleven German dioceses, with central editorial production in Osnabrück led by Ulrich Waschki and group management by Thomas Hagenhoff and Ulrich Waschki.

The paper is issued by the Bishop of Hildesheim and appears every fourteen days in German. The editorial office is in Osnabrück, sharing the central newsroom with the group's other titles while maintaining journalistic independence for Hildesheim coverage. The sold circulation was 4,352 copies in the second quarter of 2025, with 3,999 subscriber copies. The fifteen church newspapers of the Verlagsgruppe Bistumspresse had a combined fortnightly circulation of around 100,000 copies in 2024.

Digital Presence

The digital home of the KirchenZeitung is its section on aussicht.online, the "aus.sicht" portal of the northern German diocesan media group. The Hildesheim pages carry daily updated news from the diocese, background articles and multimedia content, alongside the sections for the Osnabrück Kirchenbote and the Hamburg Neue Kirchenzeitung. The portal extends the fortnightly print rhythm into continuous digital publishing, with diocesan news appearing online as it happens.

Subscription management for print and digital editions is handled through the portal, with general terms and conditions published for the KirchenZeitung's offerings. The brand is present on social media through the group's channels, sharing news and faith content with followers. An e-paper edition and a mobile app make the magazine available digitally. In the diaspora situation of the Hildesheim diocese, where readers are spread across a vast area, the digital channels are particularly important for maintaining the community connection that the KirchenZeitung has provided for its readers since 1946.