About Paulinus

Paulinus

Paulinus is the Roman Catholic weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Trier, founded in 1875 by the priest, publicist, publisher and Centre Party politician Georg Friedrich Dasbach as the Sanct-Paulinus-Blatt — named after Saint Paulinus of Trier, the fourth-century bishop exiled for defending Athanasius. The Trier diocesan newspaper since 1934, it is published by the Paulinus Verlag; the publisher is the Bischöfliches Generalvikariat Trier, the editor-in-chief Zeljko Jakobovac. The sold circulation was 11,986 copies (IVW Q1/2022), down from nearly 27,000 in Q1/2012; the publisher reported around 36,000 readers worldwide in 2023. With its ISSN 1436-9214 and its 150-year history, it is one of the German diocesan press's oldest titles.

Overview

Paulinus is a German-language Roman Catholic weekly for the Diocese of Trier, appearing once a week in print and as an e-paper. The publisher is the Paulinus Verlag; the Herausgeber is the Bischöfliches Generalvikariat Trier; the editor-in-chief is Zeljko Jakobovac. The sold circulation was 11,986 copies (IVW Q1/2022) — the long decline from nearly 27,000 in Q1/2012 reflecting the German church press's structural crisis; the publisher's 2023 figure of "around 36,000 readers worldwide" and the 2018 estimate of 50,000 readers show the readership beyond the sold copies. The programme: the detailed weekly reporting on the events in the Diocese of Trier, in Germany and in the world church — in the printed and the digital edition — the well-founded backgrounds, the commentary and accompaniment of controversial topics, and the faith and life assistance. The redaction sits in the Bischöfliches Generalvikariat, opposite the cathedral cloister's outer exit (tel. (0651) 7105-610); advertisements, subscriptions and distribution go through the Paulinus-Verlag. The paper is printed in colour at the Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH.

History

The paper was founded, like the Paulinus-Druckerei, in 1875 by Georg Friedrich Dasbach — the Roman Catholic priest, publicist, publisher and Centre Party politician — as the Sanct-Paulinus-Blatt, named after Saint Paulinus of Trier. Paulinus (c. 300 in Aquitaine; died c. 358 in Phrygia) had been bishop of Trier since about 347; in the Arian controversy's Trinitarian disputes he stood on Athanasius's side — Athanasius had found asylum with Paulinus's predecessor in Trier — and at the 353 Council of Arles he alone refused the emperor's draft condemning Athanasius, facing Constantius II's edict that threatened every non-signing bishop with exile; banished to Phrygia, he died there in 358 and is venerated as saint and martyr. On 31 March 1875 the chaplain Friedrich Dasbach founded in Trier both the Sanct-Paulinus-Blatt and the Katholische Volkszeitung plus the St. Paulinus-Druckerei; the Volkszeitung became the Trierische Landeszeitung on 1 October 1875 — the daily that the diocese sold to the Saarbrücker Zeitung in 1972 and that ceased on 31 March 1974. Since 1934 the Paulinus has been the Trier diocesan newspaper. The 2008–2009 University of Trier study — the accompanying research to the Paulinus relaunch, addressing the structural deficits that the 2003 Allensbach "Religious Communication" study had revealed, with the reach increase and the journalistic performance's optimisation — modernised the 19th-century paper for the 21st. The 150 years — 1875 to 2025 — make the Paulinus the diocese's continuity: from the Kulturkampf's Catholic press to the digital e-paper. The Kulturkampf's founding moment — the Catholic press as the church's defence — still shapes the paper's self-understanding: the diocese's own voice, independent of the secular media. The Paulinus-Druckerei — the printing house founded with the paper — was the diocese's media infrastructure: the daily Trierische Landeszeitung, the weekly Paulinus, the Catholic books — until the 1970s' economics forced the sale.

Coverage and Content

The paper's programme is the diocese's Catholic life in the weekly depth. The diocesan reporting: the events in the Diocese of Trier — the parishes' fusion into the pastoral spaces, the bishop's visitations, the associations — reported in detail each week. The German and world church: the bishops' conference, the pope, the universal church — the Trier faithful's connection to the larger church. The backgrounds: the well-founded preparation of the complex topics — the church's structural reform, the abuse reckoning, the faith's future. The structural reform — the Rhineland-Palatinate diocese's "pastoral spaces" replacing the deaneries, the 172 parish communities fusing into fewer parishes by 2026 — is the paper's home topic: the diocese reorganising itself, reported and explained week by week. The abuse reckoning — the MHG study's consequences, the diocese's processing — demands the paper's investigative accompaniment. The faith's future — the shrinking congregations, the new forms of community — is the existential question that the paper's commentary addresses. The commentary: the controversial topics commented and accompanied — the paper taking the stand where the diocese debates. The faith and life assistance: the devotional and practical guidance — the prayers, the life questions, the Catholic everyday. The digital: paulinus.de with the current reports, the dossiers, the photo galleries and the multimedia contents; the Facebook page (paulinustrier); the YouTube channel (PaulinusTrier). The Hör-Paulinus — the audio Paulinus for blind and visually impaired people, produced by the Arbeitsstelle Medien für Blinde und Sehbehinderte in the Bischöfliches Generalvikariat — extends the weekly to the readers who cannot see. The audio edition is the diocese's inclusion: the week's news read aloud, the backgrounds narrated, the faith assistance spoken — the weekly for the ears. The Arbeitsstelle's production — the diocese's media office for the blind — serves the readers whom the print cannot reach. The journalism is the diocesan press's: informing, commenting, assisting — in the diocese's service.

Organization and Ownership

Paulinus is published by the Paulinus Verlag in Trier; the Herausgeber is the Bischöfliches Generalvikariat Trier. The editor-in-chief is Zeljko Jakobovac. The redaction's address in the Generalvikariat — opposite the Domkreuzgang's outer exit, tel. (0651) 7105-610 — places the paper at the diocese's administrative heart. The commercial model is the diocesan weekly's: the subscriptions — the 11,986 sold copies (IVW Q1/2022) — the Catholic advertisers via the Paulinus-Verlag, the diocese's institutional backing, and the e-paper subscriptions. The colour printing at the Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH outsources the production to the regional newspaper printer. The ISSN is 1436-9214. The University of Trier's 2008–2009 accompanying research — the multi-stage project with the inventory of the print and online offerings, the relaunch prototypes, the acceptance and use testing — is the paper's modernisation documented scientifically. The worldwide readership — "around 36,000 readers worldwide" in 2023 — reflects the Trier diaspora: the emigrants and the interested far beyond the diocese.

Digital Presence

The paper's website is paulinus.de — the digital edition with the current reports, the dossiers, the photo galleries and the multimedia contents, plus the e-paper. The Facebook page (facebook.com/paulinustrier) and the YouTube channel (PaulinusTrier) carry the weekly into the social media. The Hör-Paulinus — the audio edition for the blind and visually impaired — is the accessibility commitment. In the German diocesan-press landscape Paulinus occupies the Moselle pole: alongside the Cologne Kirchenzeitung, the Münster Kirche+Leben and the Paderborn Der Dom, the Trier weekly is the voice of Germany's oldest diocese — 11,986 sold copies, 150 years from the 1875 Sanct-Paulinus-Blatt to the e-paper, named after the exiled fourth-century bishop, in print, audio and online, for the diocese of Trier. The name's programme — Paulinus the exile who refused the emperor — is the paper's heritage: the Catholic press that stands its ground. The 150 years span the German Catholicism's modern history: the Kulturkampf's founding impulse, the empire's Centre press, the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era, the post-war rebuilding, the council's optimism, the secularisation's crisis — the weekly that reported them all, from the Moselle, for the diocese.