Entering the Augustinian-run gymnasium at Münnerstadt in 1924, he later attended the Seminary of Würzburg and the Pontifical German-Hungarian College in Rome.

Döpfner was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Luigi Traglia on 29 October 1939, and then finished his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, from where he obtained a doctorate in theology in 1941, writing his dissertation on Cardinal John Henry Newman.

He was named Bishop of Berlin on 15 January 1957, and became the youngest member of the College of Cardinals when he was created Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Scala (pro hac vice) by Pope John XXIII in the Consistory of 15 December 1958.

Promoted to Archbishop of Munich and Freising on 3 July 1961, Döpfner participated in the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), and sat on its Board of Presidency.

[1] The German prelate was one of the cardinal electors in the 1963 papal conclave which selected Pope Paul VI.