WACKER, THEODOR. - German politician, b. 5 Nov. 1845 at Bohlsbach (Baden), d. 9 Nov. 1921 at Zähringen (Freiburg im Br.). In 1869 he was ordained a priest; from 1883 until his death he was parish priest at Zähringen.
A member of the Badischer Landtag from 1883 to 1903, W. fought against liberalism and social democracy, rebuilding the Catholic-popular party through a new organization, to which he gave the new name of Zentrum. A convinced Christian democrat, W. worked especially for the freedom of the Church and for the political equality of German Catholics. Among his political writings, the address Zentrum und kirchliche Autorität, delivered at Essen on 15 Feb. 1914, was placed on the Index because of certain passages that were not entirely clear concerning the independence of political activity from ecclesiastical authority.