Rubuta ci gaba don wannan sakin layi - An haifi Woelki a ranar 18 ga Agusta 1956 a Cologne, ɗayan yara uku na iyayen da aka kora daga Gabashin Prussia
a karshen yakin duniya na biyu. Ya yi karatun falsafa da ilimin tauhidi a Jami'o'in tauhidi na jami'o'in Bonn da Freiburg im Breisgau. A ranar 14 ga Yuni 1985 Cardinal Joseph Höffner ya naɗa shi firist na Archdiocese na Cologne.