Heiner Koch (born 13 June 1954) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been the Archbishop of Berlin since September 2015. He was an auxiliary bishop in Cologne from 2006 to 2013 and Bishop of Dresden-Meissen from 2013 to 2015. Early life and career Koch was born on 13 June 1954 in Düsseldorf, West Germany. He studied theology, philosophy and education at the University of Bonn and completed his examinations in education science. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Cologne on 13 June 1980, his 26th birthday. He held a variety of positions in Cologne and was often involved in youth ministry. While doing parish work he earned a doctorate in theology with a dissertation on the significance of liberation in Christian religious education. Since 1995 he has been president of the Federation of Historic German Shooting Clubs (). Beginning in 2002 he served as Pro-Vicar General and Secretary General for the committee that organized the celebration of World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005. On 17 March 2006, Pope Benedict XVI named him auxiliary bishop of Cologne with the titular see of Ros Cré. He was consecrated a bishop on 7 May 2006 by Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne, with Manfred Melzer and Rainer Maria Woelki as co-consecrators. He chose as his episcopal motto the Latin phrase Gaudete semper Dominus prope, "Rejoice always, the Lord is near", taken from the Epistle to the Philippians . On 18 January 2013, Benedict XVI named him Bishop of Dresden-Meissen, and he was installed there on 16 March. In December 2014, he warned against dismissing the concerns of anti-immigrant demonstrators. He said: "While we remain committed to the basic right of asylum for refugees from war areas and victims of political persecution, we must ask ourselves what drives such a large number of people on to the streets every Monday and not tar them all with the same brush by a priori labeling them right-wingers." Berlin On 8 June 2015, Pope Francis named Koch Archbishop of Berlin. Following the procedures revived in 1989 following the reunion of Germany, Koch was first elected by the Berlin church and Pope Francis, seeing no objection, made the appointment. Koch was installed in Berlin on 16 March. The German Bishops' Conference selected him in 2014 to chair its Commission for Marriage and the Family. The German Bishops' Conference selected him as