,
Gerhard Schaffran,
Joseph Ratzinger (future pope), and Meisner in
Dresden, 1987 In 1975, he was elected
titular Bishop of
Vina and auxiliary bishop to the Apostolic Administrator Erfurt-Meiningen. He was elected as a delegate to the Fourth Synod of Bishops at the
Vatican in 1977, where he renewed a friendship with
Karol Wojtyła, who in 1980 as Pope John Paul II appointed Meisner
Bishop of Berlin and made him
Cardinal-Priest of
Santa Pudenziana in the consistory of 2 February 1983. In 1988 after the death of
Joseph Höffner, Meisner was named Archbishop of Cologne, a post he continued to hold until he retired. He was one of the
cardinal electors who participated in the
2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Meisner was the bishop in charge for the
XX. World Youth Day in August 2005 in the archdiocese in Cologne that attracted more than one million people. On 18 September 2012, Meisner was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as a Synod Father for the October 2012 Ordinary General Assembly of the
Synod of Bishops. In January 2013, two Catholic hospitals refused to provide a "
morning after pill" to a rape victim based on Church policy that treats such medications as
abortifacients. Meisner apologized and approved the use of some such pills for rape victims based on the belief that they prevented fertilization and did not induce abortion. He said that if "a medication that hinders conception is used after a rape with the purpose of avoiding fertilization, then this is acceptable in my view." The German Bishops' Conference endorsed his policy on 21 February, distinguishing between different types of morning after pills. Meisner participated in the
2013 papal conclave that elected
Pope Francis. At Pope Francis'
inauguration, Meisner was one of the six cardinals who made the public act of obedience on behalf of the
College of Cardinals. On 25 December 2013, Cardinal Meisner turned 80 and lost the right to participate in future conclaves and he submitted his resignation, which Pope Francis accepted on 28 February 2014.
Diocesan administrator Stefan Heße led the archdiocese until a successor,
Rainer Woelki, was appointed on 11 July and installed as Archbishop on 20 September 2014. Meisner died on 5 July 2017 while vacationing in
Bad Füssing in Bavaria. In 2020, Cardinal Woelki accused Cardinal Meisner of covering up sexual abuse. Woelki said how “Serious mistakes were repeatedly made for decades”, Woelki said and how those responsible had behaved “completely irresponsibly”, and must therefore be “discovered and named”. ==Views==