Fritz Lobinger

Fritz Lobinger (; 22 January 1929 – 3 August 2025) was a German prelate of the Catholic Church who spent his career as a missionary in South Africa where, as head of the Lumko Missiological Institute, he developed the concepts of small Christian communities and Bible sharing. He was Bishop of Aliwal from 1987 to 2004. He advocated the ordination of teams of married men as priests to serve communities that otherwise lack regular access to the sacraments, with their functions designed to distinguish them from celibate priests. He is credited with shaping "a new vision of a participatory Church rooted in local culture and leadership." He studied theology at Regensburg seminary, where he formed a friendship for life with and Oswald Georg Hirmer. Lobinger in Aliwal, Bucher in Bethlehem in 1977, and Hirmer in Mthatha in 1997. Lobinger learned Xhosa and engaged in the community life, which earned him the honorary name umGcina (keeper). The two colleagues were also the first missionaries in more than a century to encourage the use of traditional Xhosa musical styles in creating church songs.

From 1970 to 1986, Lobinger was head of the Lumko Missiological Institute, the Pastoral Institute of the Episcopal Conference for the implementation of Second Vatican Council in South Africa. He collaborate at the institute with Hirmer and Bucher on the development of pastoral outreach programs. On 18 November 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of the Diocese of Aliwal. He received his episcopal consecration on 27 February 1988 from Wilfrid Fox Napier, Archbishop of Durban. His motto was Omnes autem vos fratres estis (But all of you are brothers and sisters). Lobinger had to wait for three years until his successor, , was ordained as bishop in 2007. His last residence was a nursing home in Pretoria.

Lobinger died in Pretoria on 3 August 2025, at the age of 96. He also believed that the presence of these teams of married elders would enhance the laity's image of the celibate priesthood.

Speaking with journalists in January 2019, Pope Francis provided an outline of Lobinger's views as presented in his book Priests for Tomorrow. He called Lobinger's proposals "interesting" and "a matter for discussion among theologians", while repeating his own insistence on maintaining celibacy as general practice while considering the ordination of married men to serve linguistic minorities and geographically remote communities. Francis also interpreted Lobinger to mean that the elders would enjoy only one of the three gifts conferred by ordination, leading prayer and celebrating the sacraments, but without the other ministries of teaching and governing. Lobinger objected that this interpretation diminishes the role of the elders in a way he did not intend, but allowed that "this is a time of moving into new territory and one must find a way".

Writings (Dissertation at the University of Münster Faculty of Catholic Theology, 1971) With Adolf Exeler und Heinrich Aertker:

With Paul M. Zulehner: With Paul M. Zulehner und Peter Neuner: