In Memoriam Prof. Dr Günter Frank

On Good Friday, 3 April 2026, the Catholic theologian and philosopher Prof. Dr Günter Frank passed away in Erfurt (Germany). He served as Curator of the Melanchthon House in Bretten from 1998 to 2024. As the founder and director of the European Melanchthon Academy, he initiated and chaired numerous conferences at which Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity (DPCU), was also a speaker.

As an editor and author of numerous publications, Günter Frank consistently showed a particular interest in the ecumenical potential of Philipp Melanchthon’s theology and philosophy.

In view of the 500th anniversary of the Confessio Augustana in 2030, he was in regular contact with the DPCU and had been appointed as an expert member of the Joint Commission for the Sixth Phase of the International Catholic–Lutheran Dialogue. Unfortunately, owing to ill health, he was no longer able to attend the initial meeting in Moravske Toplice (Slovenia) in February 2026.

What Philipp Melanchthon wrote about his own death may now be said to apply also to Günter Frank: “You will be redeemed from sin. You will be freed from all hardship and the wrath of the theologians. You will enter the light; you will behold God and his Son. You will come to know the wondrous mysteries that you could not understand in this life.”

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