Overview

• Paulaner Brauerei held a closed-door press conference on July 29 to end Maxi Schafroth’s five-year run as Fastenprediger and announce Stephan Zinner as his successor.
• Schafroth’s 2025 Fastenpredigt drew sharp criticism from CSU figures including Markus Söder and Ulrike Scharf for its one-sided, confrontational tone.
• Invitations to the announcement were dispatched just one day before the event, highlighting Paulaner’s secretive approach to selecting the next satirical preacher.
• Zinner, who spent 15 years portraying Markus Söder in the Nockherberg Singspiel, pledged to keep delivering pointed satire without pandering to the CSU.
• Markus Söder publicly congratulated Zinner and thanked Schafroth on social media, fueling suggestions by some observers that political influence factored into the leadership change.