Professor Dr Dr h.c. Hubert Wolf

Head of department

Institution: Department of Medieval and Modern Church History

Postal address: Domplatz 23 | 48143 Münster, Germany
Office: Domplatz 23 | Room 417 (fourth floor) | 48143 Münster, Germany

Tel:  +49 251 83-22626
Due to the current pandemic, many staff members are currently working from home and can be reached via call forwarding on their office phone numbers.
Email: hubert.wolf@uni-muenster.de

Office hours: To make an office meeting appointment, please contact us by email at hwolf@uni-muenster.de.

Press contact
For requests for lectures or interviews, please contact the research communication team. In urgent cases, you can reach Dr Schüler at +49 176 70093239.

Downloads:

• Lebenslauf und Auswahlbibliografie von Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hubert Wolf
• Full English CV of Professor Wolf
• Photo of Prof Wolf in high resolution (Please indicate copyrights when publishing: Catrin Moritz)

• Teaching

  Winter Term 2025/26

  • Intermediate seminar: Hauptseminar (Historische Theologie): Zwischen Pastoralanweisung und Königsermahnung:Hinkmar, Erzbischof von Reims (845-882) [022600]
    (in cooperation with Priv.-Doz. Thomas Bauer)
    • [20^th Oct 2025 – 2^nd Feb 2026 | Mon, 2.00 p. m. – 4.00 p. m. | weekly | KTh IV]
  • Advanced seminar: Oberseminar [022631]

  Summer Term 2025

  • Intermediate seminar: Hauptseminar (Historische Theologie): Mission und Christianisierung in Spätantike und Frühmittelalter [020502]
    (in cooperation with Priv.-Doz. Thomas Bauer)
    • [14^th Apr – 14^th Jul 2025 | Mon, 4.00 p. m. – 6.00 p. m. | weekly | KTh III]
  • Advanced seminar: Oberseminar [020501]
    • [Fri, 4^th Jul 2025, 9.00 a. m. – 1.00 p. m. | Single Course | AE 212 (Hansahof)]
    • [Fri, 11^th Jul 2025, 9.00 a. m. – 11.00 a. m. | Single Course | AE 212 (Hansahof)]

  Winter Term 2024/25

  • Intermediate seminar: Hauptseminar (Historische Theologie) / (Geschichte): Digitale Edition "Asking the Pope for Help" - Jüdische Verfolgte des NS-Regimes in den Quellen des Vatikan [028491]
    (in cooperation with Jana Haack)
  • Intermediate seminar: Hauptseminar (Historische Theologie) / (Geschichte): "Faites raison au Roi du Ciel!" Jeanne d'Arc im Spiegel der Prozessakten [028495]
    (in cooperation with Priv.-Doz. Thomas Bauer)
  • Advanced seminar: Oberseminar [028497]

  Summer Term 2024

  • Intermediate seminar: Hauptseminar (Historische Theologie)/(Geschichte): Politische Theologie in den frühmittelalterlichen Reichen des Okzidents [026520]
    (in cooperation with Priv.-Doz. Thomas Bauer)
  • Advanced seminar: Oberseminar [026531]

• CV

  Downloads (PDF):

  • Lebenslauf und Auswahlbibliografie von Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hubert Wolf
  • Full English CV of Professor Wolf
  • Photo of Prof Wolf in high resolution (Please indicate copyrights when publishing: Catrin Moritz)

   

  Education and Employment History

  • 2024 Head of the six-year project ‘Belonging then and now’, financed by the Alfred Landecker Foundation; www.uni-muenster.de/FB2/en/aph/teilprojekte/belonging/index.html
  • 2022 Head of the Research Group ‘Asking the Pope for Help. Jewish Petitions kept in the Vatican Archives. A critical online edition’, financed by the Foundation EVZ and the Federal Foreign Office; www.askingthepopeforhelp.de
  • 2020 Member of the Research Group ‘Being Catholic in the German Federal Republic. Semantics, Practices, and Emotions in Western Germany’s Society 1965-1989/90’, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • 2020-2022 Head of a two-years preparatory project on the ‘Opening of the Vatican Archives Pertaining to the Pontificate of Pope Pius XII’, financed by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation
  • 2016-2017 Fellow at ‘Wissenschaftskolleg’, Berlin
  • 2013 Head of the long-term project ‘Critical Online Edition of the Diaries of Michael Kardinal von Faulhaber (1911-1952)’ in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Andreas Wirsching of the ‘Institut fuer Zeitgeschichte’, Munich, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG); www.faulhaberedition.de
  • 2011-2012 Fellow at ‘Historisches Kolleg’, Munich
  • 2007-2019 Head of the long-term project ‘Critical Online Edition of the Nuncial Reports of Eugenio Pacelli (1917-1929)’ in Muenster, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG); www.pacelli-edition.de
  • 2007-2012 Member and principal investigator of the Cluster of Excellence ‘Religion and Politics in Pre-Modern and Modern Cultures’, University of Muenster
  • 2004 Member of the History Department, University of Muenster
  • 2003-2011 Collaboration in the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution’, section ‘The papal ceremonial in the Early Modern Era’, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
  • 2002-2014 Head of the long-term project ‘Roman Inquisition and Congregation of the Index’ in Muenster, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG); https://www.uni-muenster.de/FB2/buchzensur/
  • 2000 Full Professor of Medieval and Modern Church History at the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Muenster
  • 1992 Full Professor of Church History at the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Frankfurt; since 1996 also member of the Faculty of History, University of Frankfurt
  • 1991 Post-Doctoral Degree (Dr. habil.) in Medieval and Modern Church History, University of Tubingen
  • 1990 Dr. theol. in Catholic Theology, University of Tubingen
  • 1988 Temporary exemption from pastoral care for research purposes
  • 1985 Ordination to priesthood; thereafter pastoral care in the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart
  • 1983 Ordination to Deacon in the diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart
  • 1983 Dipl.-Theol. in Catholic theology, Universities of Tubingen and Munich
  • 1978 Abitur

  Awards and Honours

  • 2023 ‘Johannes Gutenberg Endowed Professorship’ of the University of Mainz
  • 2022 Hoffmann von Fallersleben plaque Corvey
  • 2021 ‘Sigmund-Freud-Preis für wissenschaftliche Prosa’ (Prize for Academic Prose) by the German Academy for Language and Literature
  • 2019 Honorary Doctorate, Faculty of Theology of the University of Bern
  • 2013 ‘Geisteswissenschaften International’, awarded by the ‘Boersenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels’ – funding of the English translation of ‘The Nuns of Sant‘Ambrogio’
  • 2009 ‘Premio Acqui Storia’ – listed among the five finalists in the category ‘best academic history book’
  • 2009 ‘Geisteswissenschaften International’, awarded by the ‘Boersenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels’ – funding of the English translation of ‘Pope and Devil’
  • 2006 Gutenberg Award, presented by the City of Mainz and the International Gutenberg Society
  • 2004 Communicator Award, presented by the ‘Stifterverband fuer die Deutsche Wissenschaft‘
  • 2003 Honorary citizenship of the municipality of Woert
  • 2003 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

   

• Main Research Areas

  The research of Professor Hubert Wolf, ThD, ThD h.c., is primarily based on the newly accessible holdings in the Vatican Apostolic Archives (the former Vatican Secret Archives), the Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Archbishop's Archives in Munich. The long-term projects of the German Research Foundation (DFG) are particularly noteworthy:

  • Book Censorship by the Roman Inquisition and the Congregation of the Index in Modern Times
  • Critical Online Edition of the Nuncial Reports of Eugenio Pacelli
  • Critical Online Edition of the Diaries of Michael Kardinal von Faulhaber
  • Asking the Pope for Help

  The main areas of research also include:

  • the relationship of the Catholic Church to National Socialism and other totalitarian and authoritarian regimes of the twentieth century,
  • the history of Church, theology and piety in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

   

• External Functions

  since 2023

  Wissenschaftlichen Beirat der Internetplattform „Intellettuali in fuga dall'Italia fascista. Migranti, esuli e rifugiati per motivi politici e razziali” (Universität Florenz) (Mitglied)

  2010 – 2023

  Member of the executive board of the ‘Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft’, Darmstadt (Mitglied des Geschäftsführenden Vorstands)

  2007 – 2023

  Member of the board of the ‘Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft’, Darmstadt (Mitglied des Vorstands)

  1993 – 2023

  Member of the ‘Kommission fuer Zeitgeschichte’, Bonn (Ordentliches Mitglied)

  2011 – 2021

  Chairman of the historical commission for the beatification of Joannes Baptista Sproll

  2016 – 2021

  Member of the 'Zentralkomitee der deutschen Katholiken'

  since 2007

  Member of the international editorial board of the ‘Schweizerische Zeitschrift für Religions- und Kulturgeschichte’

  2007 – 2016

  Advisor to the sub-commission for religious relations with the Jews in the Commission for Ecumenical Relations of the German Bishops’ Conference

  2011 – 2015

  Member and vice chairman of the advisory board of the publishing platform ‘perspectivia.net’

  2006 – 2012

  Chairman of the evaluation commission ‘Catholic Theology’ of the ‘Wissenschaftliche Kommission des Landes Niedersachsen’

  2008 – 2012

  Member of the academic advisory board of the ‘Gutenberg-Forschungskolleg’, University of Mainz

  2006 – 2012

  Juror for ‘Stadt der Wissenschaften’, financed by the ‘Stifterverband fuer die Deutsche Wissenschaft’

  since 2004

  Member of the Faculty of History, University of Muenster

  2003 – 2011

  Member of the German Historical Institute in Rome; vice chairman 2008 until 2011

  2003 – 2011

  Collaboration in the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Symbolic Communication and Social Value Systems from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution’, section ‘The papal ceremonial in the Early Modern Era’, financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

  since 2002

  Member of the ‘Historische Kommission fuer Westfalen’

  since 1999

  Member of the academic advisory council of the archive of the Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

  since 1998

  Co-editor of the journal ‘Saeculum’

  1995 – 2010

  Member of the executive committee of the Association for the History of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart and co-editor of the ‘Rottenburger Jahrbuch fuer Kirchengeschichte’

  1995 – 2000

  Head of the sections ‘History and Theology’ in the research project ‘Globalkultur und christlicher Glaube. Die Bedeutung des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils im kulturellen Transformationsprozess der Gegenwart’ and co-editor of the project’s publications, financed by the Volkswagen Foundation

• Publications

  The complete bibliography is available for download, including texts in Italian, English and other languages

  The Specialised Information Service (FID) for Theology at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen has undertaken a complete digitisation of the writings of Prof. Dr. Wolf as the Leibniz Prize winner in theology. The publications are fully catalogued and partly available here in Open Access.

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  Gesamtbibliografie von Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hubert Wolf

  Monographs (Selection)

  • Die geheimen Archive des Vatikan und was sie über die Kirche verraten, München 2021
  • Der Unfehlbare. Pius IX. und die Erfindung des Katholizismus im 19. Jahrhundert, München 2020.
  • Verdammtes Licht. Der Katholizismus und die Aufklärung, München 2019.
  • Zölibat. 16 Thesen, München 2019.
  • Konklave. Die Geheimnisse der Papstwahl, München 2017.
  • Krypta. Unterdrückte Traditionen der Kirchengeschichte, München ^1/22015; 2016 (Taschenbuch). Auch erschienen in der Schriftenreihe der Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bd. 1594, Bonn 2015.

   

  Edited Volumes (Selection)

  • Der römische Blick. Eugenio Pacelli und seine Nuntiaturberichte aus der Zeit der Weimarer Republik, Paderborn 2021
  • Römische Inquisition und Indexkongregation. Grundlagenforschung: 1542-1700 (bisher 3 Bände)
    - Grundlagenforschung II: Systematisches Repertorium zur Buchzensur 1542-1700. Bd. 2: Inquisition. Bearbeitet von Bruno Boute, Paderborn 2020.
    - Grundlagenforschung III: Personen und Profile 1542-1700. Bearbeitet von Jyri Hasecker und Judith Schepers, 2 Bde., Paderborn 2020.
  • Die Päpste und ihr Amt zwischen Einheit und Vielfalt der Kirche. Theologische Fragen in historischer Perspektive, hg. von Stefan Weinfurter, Volker Leppin, Christoph Strohm, Hubert Wolf und Alfred Wieczorek (Die Päpste 4), Regensburg 2017.

   

  Articles (Selection)

  • Verschlossen, verwechselt, verlegt, verbrannt. Das Schicksal der Weihnachtsansprache
    Pius’ XII. von 1942, in: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 70 (2022), H 4, 723-759
  • Die Erfindung des Katholizismus? Vom Nutzen und Nachteil des historiographischen Konzepts der „invention of tradition“ für die katholische Kirchengeschichtsschreibung, in: Katharina Krips/Stephan Mokry/Klaus Unterburger (Hg.), Aufbruch in der Zeit. Kirchenreform und europäischer Katholizismus (Münchener Kirchenhistorische Studien. Neue Folge 10), Stuttgart 2020, 37-50.
  • Die Korrespondenz zwischen Nuntius Pacelli und Staatssekretär Gasparri zur Friedensinitiative Benedikts XV., in: Birgit Aschmann/Heinz-Gerhard Justenhoven (Hg.), Dès le début. Die Friedensnote Papst Benedikts XV. von 1917 (Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Zeitgeschichte C 2), Paderborn 2019, 287-366 (gemeinsam mit Sascha Hinkel und Elisabeth-Marie Richter).
  • Kirchengeschichte als Auslegungsgeschichte der Heiligen Schrift? In: Marie-Theres Wacker (Hg.), Wozu ist die Bibel gut? Theologische Anstöße (Münsterische Beiträge zur Theologie. Neue Folge 3), Münster 2019, 219-237.
  • Rottenburger Diözesanidentität und Subsidiarität. Ein Beitrag zur historischen Ekklesiologie der Ortskirche, in: Michael Seewald (Hg.), Ortskirche. Bausteine zu einer künftigen Ekklesiologie – Festschrift für Bischof Gebhard Fürst, Ostfildern 2018, 384-398.
  • Plusquam ancilla theologiae. Was die Kirchengeschichte zu aktuellen Reformdebatten beitragen kann. In: ET-Studies 10 (2019) H 1, 23-43.

   

• Supervised Works

  List of papers and theses supervised by the Department of Medieval and Modern Church History