Overview
- The Diocese of Erfurt said Wanke died on March 12 at the Catholic hospital in Erfurt after several days of palliative care.
- Erfurt’s current bishop, Ulrich Neymeyr, hailed him as a significant theologian whose ideas guided Catholic life in the East and in Germany more broadly.
- Named in 1994 as the first bishop of the re‑established diocese, Wanke was ordained a priest in 1966 and a bishop in 1980, later serving as apostolic administrator for Erfurt‑Meiningen.
- His leadership included Pope Benedict XVI’s 2011 visit to Thuringia, with a meeting at Erfurt’s Augustinian monastery and large public liturgies in Eichsfeld and Erfurt.
- He resigned in 2012 for health reasons yet stayed engaged in retirement; in 2018 he acknowledged errors in handling abuse allegations, and he was seen publicly as recently as April 2025.