Who runs the Catholic Church?
Catholic Church in Germany
The Catholic Church in Germany () or Roman-Catholic Church in Germany () is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope, assisted by the Roman Curia, and of the German bishops. The current "speaker" (i.e., the chairperson) of the episcopal conference is Cardinal Reinhard Marx, metropolitan Archbishop of Archdiocese of Munich and Freising. It is divided into 27 dioceses, 7 of them with the rank of metropolitan sees. All the archbishops and bishops are members of the Conference of German Bishops. Due to a church tax compulsory for those who register civilly as Catholics, it is the wealthiest part of the Catholic Church in Europe.
Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster
The diocese is led by the Archbishop of Westminster, who serves as pastor of the mother church, Westminster Cathedral, as well as the metropolitan bishop of the ecclesiastical Province of Westminster. Since the re-establishment of the English Catholic dioceses in 1850, each Archbishop of Westminster—including the incumbent, Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols—has been created a cardinal by the Pope in consistory, often as the only cardinal in England, but the 43rd of English cardinals since the 12th century. It is also customary for the Archbishop of Westminster to be elected President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales providing a degree of a formal direction for the other English bishops and archbishops. However, he is not formally a primate, though he has special privileges conferred by the Papal Bull "Si qua est". The Archbishop of Westminster has not been granted the title of Primate of England and Wales, which is sometimes applied to him, but his position has been described as that of "chief metropolitan" of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales and as "similar to" that of the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England (as the metropolitan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The diocese is one of the smallest dioceses in England and Wales in geographical area, but the largest in terms of Catholic population and priests.