Munich - He was one of the best-known Vatican Journalists in Rome: On July 23, the German Jesuit Bernd Hagenkord SJ died in Munich at the age of 52. Only on Friday, the Father had resigned from his office as Spiritual Director of the Synodal Way, the reform debate in the Catholic Church in Germany, which he had held since 2019, for health reasons.

Hagenkord previously headed the German-language department of Radio Vatican, called Vatican News from autumn 2017, for ten years. He thus became a sought-after interlocutor for many German media and also helped shape the reform process of the Vatican media. Since 2019 he was Superior of the Berchmanskolleg in Munich.

The Catholic world has bid farewell to Father Bernd Hagenkord with countless tributes, and the Jesuit's services to dialogue and understanding within the Catholic Church have been highlighted in many media. Hagenkord's "legacy" is seen precisely in his balanced and objective attitude, his capacity for discernment and his consideration of the entire breadth of Catholicism. As a journalist, he had demonstrated poise and stature and had been a "communicative multi-talent".

Tributes

The President of the German Bishops' Conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, said Hagenkord had built "an indispensable bridge to the secular world". "He was an excellent journalist who lived his profession. His apt comments and analyses as a Vatican expert have made us understand many things better." The religious had provided valuable food for thought for the Synodal Way. "This path is truly not easy, and it was precisely Father Hagenkord who was a mediator in complex situations, sometimes also in situations of conflict, and who contributed to defusing the situation and to mutual understanding".

The President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), Thomas Sternberg, said that for the Jesuit "the unity of the Church was not conceivable without a willingness to change." Hagenkord also belonged to the ZdK as an individual. Sternberg quoted the deceased as saying: "Church does not represent a contradiction to democratic procedures. I cannot think of any fundamental theological argument whereby democracy would exclude the Holy Spirit."

Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich also expressed his shock at Hagenkord's death. He had been an "authentic mediator of events in the Catholic Church, especially from Rome".

"For me, Father Bernd was a guide," the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communications, Paolo Ruffini, paid tribute to the Jesuit. At the beginning of his own work in the dicastery, Hagenkord had accompanied him so that he would not get lost in this labyrinth. “For Vatican Radio, he was a captain who stayed the course even in stormy seas.”

Journalist, Spiritual guide, Jesuit

Father Bernd Hagenkord SJ was born on 4 October 1968 in Hamm and entered the Society of Jesus in 1992 at the age of 24. He pursued his path in the Order unwaveringly, was ordained priest by Felix Genn in Cologne on 7 September 2002 and professed his final vows on 7 April 2010. He was ordained in Cologne in 2002 and initially worked as a youth chaplain in Hamburg. Hagenkord studied journalism, history, philosophy and theology in Gießen, Hamburg, Munich and London.

He never gave up the fight against his cancer, but lost in the end. He leaves behind his mother, stepfather and siblings, alongside countless people whose path he had crossed and for whom he meant something great - indeed, whose life's journey he may have had a decisive influence. Now he is there from where he can continue to accompany them.

You can find a digital book of condolence on www.jesuiten.org

Read the article "The Synodal Way is like loosening knots" Bernd Hagencord wrote in December 2019 in jesuits.eu