Roman Catholic Cardinal. The longtime Archbishop of Berlin, he was a major force in uniting the German Church after the fall of Communism. Born and initially raised in what was then East Prussia, he was orphaned at a young age and forced to take refuge in Thuringen in 1946. Sterzinsky was educated in Erfurt from 1948 on, entered that city's seminary in 1954, and was ordained a Priest in 1960. After serving a parish in Eisenach he taught at Erfurt for two years then was a pastor in Jena from 1966 until 1981 when he was appointed Vicar General to the Bishop of what was then East Berlin. Consecrated and named Bishop of East Berlin in 1989, he was Created Cardinal in 1991 and elevated to Archbishop of a unified Berlin in 1994. Working throughout his Episcopate to erase the effects of years of national separation, he was conservative in his positions, for example calling upon all Catholics to resist gay marriage in a 2004 speech. Ill for a protracted length of time, the Cardinal retired on his 75th birthday and died in an extended care facility.∼BERLIN (AP) — Cardinal Georg Sterzinsky, who stepped down as the Berlin's archbishop earlier this year, has died. He was 75. The Berlin archdiocese said Sterzinsky died early Thursday. It didn't give details but the cardinal had long been ill; in February, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation. Sterzinsky was born in 1936 in what is now Poland and studied in communist East Germany. He became bishop of Berlin — then a divided city — in 1989 and was later promoted to archbishop and cardinal. Auxiliary bishop Matthias Heinrich has been in charge of the archdiocese since Sterzinsky's resignation. The Vatican hasn't yet named a permanent successor. Benedict is due to visit Berlin in September.

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