Archbishop of Vienna
Schönborn was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Vienna on 11 April 1995 and succeeded as Archbishop of Vienna on 14 September 1995. He was created cardinal priest of Gesù Divin Lavoratore by Pope John Paul II in the consistory of 21 February 1998. Considered among the papabili following John Paul's death, Cardinal Schönborn was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI, and in the 2013 papal conclave that selected Pope Francis.
He became chairman of the Austrian Bishops Conference in 1998 when he was elected to the first of four six-year terms.
Schönborn served as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that for the Oriental Churches, and that for Catholic Education, and of the Pontifical Council for Culture and the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. On 5 January 2011 he was appointed among the first members of the newly created Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelisation. On 30 November 2013, Pope Francis confirmed Cardinal Schönborn as a Member of the Education Congregation.
Schönborn also serves as the Grand Chaplain to the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece. Schönborn's episcopal motto is Vos autem dixi amicos (I have called you friends) from John 15:15. His coat of arms as archbishop and cardinal includes in its upper sinister field the family arms of the Schönborn family.
Schönborn presided over the Funeral of Otto von Habsburg, former Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, in St. Stephen's Cathedral on 16 July 2011.
On 18 September 2012, Schönborn was named by Pope Benedict XVI as a Synod Father for the October 2012 13th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the New Evangelization.
Schönborn visited Iran in February 2001 and met with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Schönborn was one of the highest-ranked Catholic Church officials to visit the country since the 1980–88 Iran–Iraq War.
Schönborn has been described as an accomplished crisis manager. He had a close relationship with Pope Benedict XVI, whom he knew for decades, and has been referred to as Benedict's "spiritual son".
On 1 December 2017, Schönborn presided over an interconfessional prayer service entitled Mozart Requiem in his cathedral church for World AIDS Day. The event was co-hosted by the LGBT activist Gery Keszler.
On 1 December 2018, he invited in the St. Stephen's Cathedral a rock ensemble to perform a flamboyant play called Jedermann (reloaded), which was based on the early 20th-century play of that name by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
