Udo_Bentz
His Excellency. The Most Reverend. Monsignor. Dr. Udo Marcus Bentz (born 3 March 1967 in Rülzheim) is a Roman Catholic clergyman and currently metropolitan archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn since December 2023.[1] He previously was a bishop of auxiliary bishop in Mainz since 2015-2023.[2][3][4][5]
Mons. Dr. Udo Marcus Bentz first trained from 1986 to 1988 as a banker. In 1988, he entered the diocesan seminary for priests in Mainz and studied theology, as well as philosophy, at the University of Mainz and the University of Innsbruck. In 1994, his ordination to the diaconate took place, followed by the diaconate internship in Griesheim. He was ordained a priest for the diocese of Mainz on 1 July 1995 by Bishop Karl Lehmann.
Until 1998, he worked as a chaplain in the cathedral of St. Peter and the St. Martin parish in Worms. This was followed by a four-year period as personal secretary of the Mainz Bishop Karl Lehmann. After further studies he joined Albert Raffelt at the Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg in 2007, with a theologically-historical dissertation on Dr. theol. PhD. For this work, he was awarded the Karl Rahner Prize in 2008 by the University of Innsbruck. He was pastorally active in the parishes of St. Michael in Sprendlingen (2002–2004) and of St. Peter Canisius in Mainz-Gonsenheim (2004–2007). Since 2007, he is the rector of the diocesan seminary in Mainz. In 2011, he was appointed to the spiritual ministry by the Bishop of Mainz. In 2013, Bentz was elected Chairman of the German Rectors' Council, the Conference of Diocesan Seminary Rectors in Germany. In addition to the diocesan seminaries for priests, he has been teaching at the seminaries for pastoralists and pastoral assistants of the diocese since 2014.[citation needed] On 9 December 2023, he was appointed as metropolitan archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn.[6] His solemn installation will be held canonically on 10 March 2024.[7]
