Jean-Claude Hollerich

Jean-Claude Hollerich S.J. (born 9 August 1958) is a Luxembourgeois prelate of the Catholic Church, who has served as the Archbishop of Luxembourg since 2011. He has been the president of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) since March 2018.

Hollerich was born on 9 August 1958 in Differdange. He grew up in Vianden, attended the École Apostolique of Clairefontaine and the Lycée Classique in Diekirch. From 1978 to 1981 he studied Catholic Theology and Philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. On 27 September 1981 he joined the Jesuits. After a noviciate in Namur from 1981 to 1983, he did pastoral work from 1983 to 1985 in Luxembourg. From 1985 to 1989, Hollerich studied Japanese language and culture as well as theology at Sophia University in Tokyo until 1989. He earned a theological licentiate in 1990 from the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt am Main.

On 21 April 1990 he was ordained a priest in Brussels. From 1990 to 1994 he earned a licentiate in German language and literature at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Until 2001 he was a doctoral student at the Centre for European Integration Studies in Bonn. On 18 October 2002, Hollerich took his perpetual vows in St. Ignatius' church in Tokyo. He is a member of the Japanese Jesuit province and was a professor of German, French and European studies (1994-2011) and Vice-Rector for General and Student Affairs of the Sophia University in Tokyo.

Since 1994, Hollerich has been a member of the Catholic student fraternity, AV Edo-Rhenania zu Tokio and of AV Rheinstein zu Köln im CV.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Hollerich Archbishop of Luxembourg on 12 July 2011. He received his episcopal consecration consecration on 16 October 2011 in the cathedral in Luxembourg from his predecessor Fernand Franck; the co-consecrators were the Archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Cardinal Meisner and the Archbishop of Tokyo, Peter Takeo Okada. He is the eighth Bishop and third Archbishop of Luxembourg.

Hollerich presided at the wedding of Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy at Luxembourg's Notre-Dame Cathedral on 20 October 2012.

He has held leadership positions in a number of European associations. He was President of the Conference of European Justice and Peace Commissions from 2014 to 2018 and became President of the Council of Bishops' Conferences of Europe's Commission for Youth in September 2017. In March 2018, he was elected to a five-year term as president of the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE). Pope Francis appointed him to participate in the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth, Faith, and vocational discernment.

Pope Francis raised him to the rank of cardinal on 5 October 2019, He is the first cardinal from Luxembourg.

On 5 October 2019, Pope Francis made him Cardinal Priest of San Giovanni Crisostomo a Monte Sacro Alto. He was made a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture on 21 February 2020.