Gerhard Ludwig Müller

His Eminence Gerhard Ludwig Müller, OESSH
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller
Church	Sant'Agnese in Agone
Appointed	2 July 2012
Predecessor	William Joseph Cardinal Levada
Other posts	Cardinal-Deacon of Sant’Agnese in Agone President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei President of the International Theological Commission President of the Pontifical Biblical Commission
Orders
Ordination	11 February 1978 by Cardinal Hermann Volk
Consecration	24 November 2002 by Friedrich Wetter
Created Cardinal	22 February 2014 by Pope Francis
Rank	Cardinal-Deacon
Personal details
Born	(1947-12-31) 31 December 1947 (age 69) Mainz, Germany
Nationality	German
Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
Previous post	Bishop of Regensburg (2002-12)
Motto	Dominus Jesus (English: Jesus the Lord, Romans, 10: 9)
Coat of arms	${{{coat_of_arms_alt}}}$

Ordination history of Gerhard Ludwig Müller
Priestly ordination
Date of ordination	11 February 1978
Episcopal consecration
Principal consecrator	Friedrich Wetter
Co-consecrators	Cardinal Karl Lehmann Vinzenz Guggenberger Bishop Manfred Müller
Date of consecration	24 November 2002
Cardinalate
Elevated by	Pope Francis
Date of elevation	22 February 2014
Bishops consecrated by Gerhard Ludwig Müller as principal consecrator
Reinhard Pappenberger	25 March 2007
Steven Joseph Lopes	2 February 2016

Styles of Gerhard Ludwig Müller

Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

Gerhard Ludwig Müller, born on 31 December 1947, is a German Cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since his appointment by Pope Benedict XVI on 2 July 2012. He was elevated to the Cardinalate in the Papal consistory of 22 February 2014.

Gerhard Ludwig Müller was born in Finthen, a borough of Mainz, then in West Germany. After graduating from Willigis Episcopal High School in Mainz, he studied philosophy and theology in Mainz, Munich, and Freiburg, Germany. In 1977, he received his Doctorate of Divinity under Cardinal Karl Lehmann for his thesis on the Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Müller was ordained as a priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz, Germany on 11 February 1978, shortly after his thirtieth birthday, by Cardinal Hermann Volk. After his presbyteral ordination, he served as a chaplain of 3 parishes. In 1986, Father Müller was summoned to be the Chair of dogmatic theology of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany, where he remains an honorary professor.